Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg takes part in a rally against the demolition of the village of Lützerath for lignite mining on Saturday. The police are expecting 8,000 participants to attend the demonstration in the neighboring town of Keyenberg, which, like Lützerath, belongs to Erkelenz.
The motto of the demonstration is “Prevent evictions! For climate justice”. According to the organizers, the program with bands and live acts begins at 11 a.m., the demo itself begins at 12 p.m. Participants are expected from 50 cities and 14 federal states, said Fridays for Future.
The administrative court in Aachen decided on Friday that the organizers can carry out the demonstration almost as planned and overturned the conditions for another police venue. Only the use of tractors at the event was forbidden at the request of the police.
Thunberg hands out against government and police
“The situation in Lützerath is a huge international embarrassment for the federal government,” said Thunberg in advance of the German Press Agency in Cologne. “People have been defending Lützerath for years as part of a global justice movement. The fact that people are taking action is a sign of hope.”
The 20-year-old called on all citizens to take part in the demonstration. According to the police, Thunberg visited the town of Lützerath on Friday, accompanied by a member of the Bundestag from the Greens. Kathrin Henneberger’s Bundestag office confirmed in the evening that Thunberg had accompanied the MP, who is therefore on site as a parliamentary observer.
Thunberg had sharply criticized the actions of the police when clearing the village. “It’s outrageous how violent the police are,” said the climate activist from Sweden. The Aachen police chief Dirk Weinspach rejected the accusation. “It is incomprehensible to me how she came to her amazing assessment,” he told the “Spiegel”https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/.”She used most of her stay to speak to the press and to give statements. While almost next to her, very careful work was being done to get activists off the premises,” Weinspach told dpa in the evening.
Since Wednesday, the police have been busy clearing and demolishing the place previously occupied by climate activists. The energy company RWE then wants to excavate the coal underneath. According to the NRW state government and the federal government, this is necessary to ensure energy security. The activists deny that – according to them, the lignite in the current opencast mine is sufficient.