Elon Musk’s Tesla has been given the green light to expand its Berlin gigafactory despite environmental activists taking part in huge protests at the plant last week. The local council in Gruenheide, the Brandenburg municipality where the Berlin factory is based, voted 11 to six to allow the company to expand the facility, Tesla’s only European plant. The decision comes three months after local residents voted to block the expansion, which prompted Tesla to submit a scaled-down plan. The referendum was non-binding but the company had promised to revise its plans after the vote. Tesla’s Berlin gigafactory has become a hotspot for environmental and Left-wing protests in recent months, which culminated last week in scores of activists breaking through police lines to reach the walls of the facility. Several weeks earlier, the factory’s power supplies were vandalised, forcing it to stop production. A majority of councillors in Gruenheide voted in favour of the expansion plan, which is roughly half the size of Tesla’s previous proposal to clear around 250 acres of forest. The company hopes to double production to around 1m cars per year. The meeting featured demonstrations outside the local parliament, while those attending the meeting had their bags...