Kassel and Thun | Attacks on Rheinmetall in Hesse and B&T in Switzerland

Hesse's Prime Minister Boris Rhein (CDU) at the opening of the "Defence Hub North Hesse" at the troubled Kassel-Calden civil airport. Rheinmetall will receive 25 million euros from the state. Photo: imago/Florian Gaertner The left-wing web portal Indymedia was taken offline by the administrators last week due to a critical security hole in the PHP programming language. It was available again on Saturday and shed light on an arson attack on construction vehicles at Kassel-Calden Airport: According to a statement published on Indymedia, it was an action against Rheinmetall.

On the night of October 30th, several excavators and wheel loaders were set on fire at a Düsseldorf defense company's construction site in Kassel-Calden, the letter says. The police provide more detailed information: three construction machines were completely burned out and nearby machines were damaged. The fire was set, so the state security agency responsible for politically motivated crimes is now investigating. The amount of damage is not yet known.

Rheinmetall wants to locate its drone and logistics business in Calden in a newly developed commercial area on 30,000 square meters. For this “Defense Hub North Hesse”, the group is investing more than 260 million euros in Calden and in the expansion of a tank factory in neighboring Kassel. The state of Hesse is contributing a further 25 million euros.

»Day after day the news about arms investments is overwhelming. Almost not an evening goes by without seeing tanks on our streets, exported to war zones around the world. There is hardly a local politician, medium-sized company or research location that does not hope to get something from the billions of the turnaround," says the statement published on Indymedia. The then Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) proclaimed the “turning point” for military rearmament in a government statement in February 2022 after Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

Even after the expansion of the Calden airfield into a fully-fledged airport was completed in 2013, the civil “Kassel Airport” project did not get off the ground. Rheinmetall now wants to expand it into a “military hub,” explained company boss Armin Papperger at the inauguration of the “Defence Hub.”

There was also a major attack on a weapons factory in Switzerland last week. On the night of October 29th, the main building of Brügger & Thomet (B&T) burned down in Thun. The damage could amount to up to 21 million euros.

A confessional video published on the French portal “Contre attaque” suggests that the crime was committed in solidarity with the “Gen Z” movement. It shows incendiary devices being thrown at B&T, as well as clips of police violence and the message “Swiss, France, Germany, in the street with Gen Z”. You can also see the abbreviation “GL06”. This is the name of the multi-purpose launcher from B&T, which is sold to the military and police.

The »GL06« can be loaded with rubber bullets, among other things. In France, where the police and gendarmerie use it, the device goes by the abbreviation “LBD 40”. In recent years, dozens of people are said to have lost their eyes due to the bullets. The weapon is also said to have killed people, for example by causing cardiac arrest.

The self-accusation states: "For the first time, the manufacturer of these instruments of terror and torture is being directly targeted." B&T owner Karl Brügger spoke to "Blick" about the serious injuries caused by the rubber bullet launcher manufactured in Thun. The French police use ammunition from a French manufacturer, explained Brügger. This does not fit the B&T device.

This article cost you nothing. Us: research, production and technology. We saved on office rent as well as printing and distribution. And we gave up salary. Nevertheless, the calculation doesn't work without you. We need 300,000 euros by the end of the year. You pay what you can, in return we keep writing.

No paywall, no small print, just one goal: that nd stays.