Lützerath: Protesters, police clash near German coal mine
Police clashed with protesters following a dayslong standoff over the demolition of the western German village. Greta Thunberg joined activists in a major demonstration at the site.
German police clashed with climate activists at the village of Lützerath on Saturday, as the standoff between authorities and activists dragged on for a fourth day.
Police had been working to clear activists from the site to make way for the demolition of the village.
Lisa Neubauer of the Fridays for Future organization told the German Press Agency that police had used pepper spray on activists in isolated incidents.
Police called on demonstrators to leave the area, or face the possibility of officers deploying water cannons and using physical force.
Earlier on Saturday, regional police said that barriers had been broken and urged people to leave the area.
"The police barriers have been broken. To the people in front of Lützerath: get out of this area immediately," police said.
"Some people have entered the mine. Move away from the danger zone immediately!"
Thousands of climate protesters descend on German coal town
VIDEO 02:27 Greta Thunberg joins protesters
Activists and protesters began assembling for a major demonstration at noon, with a standoff between authorities and activists in attendance.
"This is a betrayal of present and future generations... Germany is one of the biggest polluters in the world and needs to be held accountable," Thunberg said on a podium at the protest.
"The coal that is in the ground here will not lower prices immediately. Anyone who thinks like that is simply out of touch with reality," she said.
Around 10,000 protesters participated in the demonstration, according to a police estimate. Protest organizers put the number of participants at 35,000.
In nearby Keyenberg, thousands also protested against plans by RWE to mine the site for coal.
What do we know about the clearance of Lützerath?
Police said most of the western German village has been cleared of activists "above ground," a spokesperson said on Saturday morning. But several are still occupying 15 structures, both underground and in treehouses.
Some 470 people have been removed from the site, with 320 having done so voluntarily, according to the police.
The demolition of the village of Lützerath is part of a compromise deal the German government struck to push the country's planned coal power phase-out up by eight years to 2030.
As part of the deal, RWE was allowed to expand its vast Garzweiler II open-cast mine into Lützerath, which would unearth some 280 million tons of coal.
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg arrived in Germany on Friday and joined activists on the site. She criticized the German Green Party for its support of Lützerath's demolition.
The Green Party is part of the German federal governing coalition, along with the Social Democrats and the Free Democrats, but it is also in a coalition on the state level in North-Rhine Westphalia, the state where Lützerath is located.
Greens member and German Economy Minister Robert Habeck defended the village's demolition, arguing that the coal underneath is needed to maintain energy security in the current crisis brought on by the Russian war in Ukraine.
Making deals with fossil fuel corporations like RWE "show where their priorities are," Thunberg told dpa in an interview.
"The coal that is in the ground here will not lower prices immediately. Anyone who thinks like that is simply out of touch with reality," Thunberg said in response.
jcg,sdi/sms (AFP, dpa, AP)
Greta Thunberg joins German
anti-coal protesters
STORY: Climate activist Greta Thunberg and an estimated 6,000 people marched through mud and rain on Saturday to protest against the expansion of an opencast lignite mine near Luetzerath in Germany.
"The carbon is still in the ground. We are still here. Luetzerath is still there. And as long as the carbon is in the ground, this struggle is not over."
Earlier this week, police cleared protesters from buildings in the North Rhine-Westphalia state village after a court decision allowed energy giant RWE to go ahead with the expansion.
Demonstrators had been occupying them for about two years.
RWE and the government had struck a deal to raze the village in exchange for the company’s faster exit from coal as well as saving other villages originally slated for destruction.
"The fact that all of you are here is a sign of hope. This is only a part of a much larger global climate movement, a movement for climate and social justice and racial justice. Luetzerath...What happens in Luetzerath doesn't stay in Luetzerath. Germany as one of the biggest polluters in the world has an enormous responsibility."
On Saturday, only a few people remained camping out in treehouses and an underground tunnel, but thousands turned up to protest against the mine, which activists say symbolizes Berlin's failing climate policy.
Regional police said on Twitter they had used force to stop people from breaking through barriers and nearing the danger zone at the edge of the excavation area.
"You are showing clearly today that the changes will not come from the people in power, from governments, from corporations, from the so-called leaders. No, the real leaders are here. It is the people who are sitting in tree houses and those who have been defending Luetzerath for example for years now."
The state president said on German radio that energy politics were "not always pretty" but that the coal was needed more than ever in light of the energy crisis confronting Europe's biggest economy.
The climate activist gave her backing to protesters ousted from a nearby huge coal mine that is due for expansion. Germany's reliance on fossil fuels remains a divisive issue amid the energy crisis.
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg on Friday denounced the court-approved, police clearance of an anti-coal protest camp in western Germany as "outrageous."
Officers moved in this week to evict hundreds of demonstrators from the abandoned village of Lützerath, which sits next door to a vast lignite mine due for expansion.
The camp has taken center stage in a longstanding row between climate activists and the government over the country's heavy reliance on coal for electricity.
What did Thunberg say?
During a visit to Lützerath, in the western state of North-Rhine Westphalia, the 20-year-old Thunberg said it was "horrible to see what's happening here."
"We expect to show what people power looks like, what democracy looks like. When governments and corporations are acting like this, destroying the environment, putting countless people at risk, the people step up," she added.
The climate activist also referred to "outrageous ... police violence" occurring at the site.
Thunberg met with protesters and also toured the mine's crater, holding up a sign that read, "Keep it in the ground."
Thunberg is expected to join a protest on Saturday in Lützerath's neighboring town of Keyenberg, alongside German climate activist Luisa Neubauer.
Police said they expect 6,000 to 7,000 participants.
On Friday, a court said the planned protest could proceed, but without the use of 10 tractors that the activists had organized.
What happened during the eviction?
After a court order, police began clearing village buildings of protesters on Wednesday and Thursday.
More than 1,000 officers moved in with bulldozers and ordered many activists, perched on roofs and walls, to come down.
Some activists threw stones, bottles and firecrackers, though the demonstrations were largely peaceful.
By Friday evening, police said they had cleared occupying protesters from the last building in the village, which is now the property of energy giant and Garzweiler coal mine operator RWE.
Some protesters have complained of undue force by police, as officers were brought in from across the country and water cannons were placed on standby. Similarly, police and politicians had complained of isolated incidents of violence against law enforcement at the site, particularly last Sunday.
By Friday, two climate activists were holding out in a tunnel about 4 meters (13 feet) under the village and would chain themselves up if any attempt was made to evict them, the spokesperson for Lützerath Lebt (Lützerath Lives) activist group said.
Regional police chief Dirk Weinspach said he would bring in specialized teams to remove them.
Several tree houses still needed to be cleared, officials said.
Also on Friday, activists protested in front of the RWE headquarters in the western city of Essen, with some chaining themselves to the entry gate.
A symbol of Germany's coal dilemma 01:14
What are the plans for Lützerath?
The government last year agreed on a compromise to bring forward a planned coal power phase-out in the nearby mine by eight years, to 2030.
As part of the deal, RWE is allowed to expand its vast Garzweiler II open-cast mine into Lützerath, which will give it access to about 280 million tons of coal.
The need to retain coal mining for electricity production has become a priority during the energy crisis.
As Germany has cut its reliance on Russian gas due to the Ukraine war, it has temporarily extended the life of some coal and nuclear power plants to steer itself through the crisis.
Germany still generates about 30% of its electricity from coal under normal circumstances and in the third quarter of 2022 (the most recent available figures), when gas prices were at their highest and as Germany was also trying to compensate for the nuclear plants it had shut down at the end of 2021, that figure rose to 36.3%.
But environmentalists say the move will increase Germany's greenhouse gas emissions.
The dilemma is not lost on most Germans, 59% of whom are against the expansion of lignite mining areas, while 60% also think the temporary use of coal-fired power plants is the right thing to do.
mm/msh (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)
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