Status: 01/17/2023 3:27 p.m
After the evacuation of Lützerath, climate activists continued their protests at the Garzweiler opencast mine. In Cologne, some people stuck to the street, in Düsseldorf the entrance to the NRW Ministry of the Interior was blocked.
Even after the evacuation of the village of Lützerath, the protests by climate activists continue. Actions against lignite mining took place in several places in North Rhine-Westphalia.
According to the police, a three-digit number of people headed towards the Garzweiler opencast mine near Lützerath. There were also new clashes between demonstrators and police officers, the officers used batons and pepper spray, a police spokesman said.
Greta Thunberg was there too
The people were standing on the edge of the open pit, said a police spokesman. The lignite mine has a sharp edge, staying there is dangerous and forbidden. Overall, several hundred people took part in the demonstration that started in the Keyenberg district of Erkelenz. According to a spokeswoman for “Ende Gelände”, two groups of participants left the rally in the direction of Lützerath. A third group will not be allowed to continue.
Greta Thunberg was among the activists. According to observations by a dpa photographer, she is one of a group of demonstrators who have been surrounded by the police. Together with about 60 to 70 other people, she was sitting near the edge of the Garzweiler lignite opencast mine. Police officers surrounded the group.
According to the energy company RWE, one person got into the opencast lignite mine. “Of course it’s grossly reckless what he’s doing there,” said an RWE spokesman. The person is standing on a “kind of landing” in the embankment.
Entrance of the NRW Ministry of the Interior blocked
In Düsseldorf, members of the group “Extinction Rebellion” stuck to the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of the Interior. About a dozen people, including a mother and child, were involved in the action, police and Interior Ministry spokesmen said. The demonstrators demanded the resignation of NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) because of the police operation in Lützerath. The activists complained about police violence and criminalization.
Around 150 demonstrators gathered in the state parliament, who then marched in front of the NRW Ministry of Economic Affairs.
Stuck on the street
In Cologne, climate activists obstructed commuter traffic because they were stuck on the street. They sat across a street and held up a banner that indicated the Last Generation group. Yellow crosses could also be seen – the protest symbols against the demolition of Lützerath.
A dpa photographer reported a traffic jam and angry comments from drivers towards the activists. According to the police, the access roads were blocked and traffic was guided past. Three people who were stuck were “freed” from the street, three were carried away, said a police spokeswoman after the end of the action. However, all six were taken into custody. Among other things, it is being determined because of dangerous interventions in road traffic. State security got involved.
The group “Last Generation” tweeted a photo from Cologne in the morning and explained: “The coal under #Lützerath has to stay in the ground!”
According to RWE and activist groups, demonstrators also occupied a conveyor excavator in the Inden opencast lignite mine and the tracks of an RWE works railway that supplies the Neurath power plant with lignite. Around a hundred people took part in the action near Neurath, and around 30 to 40 in the occupation of the excavator. According to a company spokesman, the police were also on site in each case.