Safeguard the anti-coal camp in the hamlet of Lützerath. This is the purpose of Swedish activist Greta Thunberg’s visit to Germany. She denounces this Saturday, alongside hundreds of environmental activists, the extension of a huge open-pit mine in western Germany. The demonstration started at midday to send a message of support to the handful of diehards who oppose the evacuation operation carried out by the police in the hamlet of Lützerath, located on the edge of the mine.
The organizers are counting on the participation of tens of thousands of demonstrators, under intense rain. The police are expecting 8,000 people. The old village, located in the Rhine basin, between Düsseldorf and Cologne, must disappear to allow the extension of a huge open-pit lignite mine, one of the largest in Europe, operated by the German energy company RWE. The slogan of the demonstrators: “Prevent the evacuation! “, even if the hours of the Lützerath camp now seem numbered.
Evacuation in progress
The police resumed early in the morning the work of dismantling the camp, already very advanced. Between 20 and 40 activists still occupied the site on Friday evening, according to a spokeswoman for their movement at AFP. Trees were felled, many huts built high up by the activists were emptied of their occupants, the latter being escorted to the exit of the site now surrounded by gates.
Near this place, which has become a symbol of climate defense and opposition to fossil fuels, buses dropped off hundreds of demonstrators, AFP journalists noted. The participants carry placards and sometimes start chanting under the gaze of the police.
Civil disobedience all over the country
The evacuation operation, which began this week, mobilized police reinforcements from all over Germany and has so far taken place without significant incident. Eleven police officers were injured, including two with work stoppages. A few criminal charges have been filed for resisting law enforcement and damaging property.
Since the beginning of the evacuation, the relief workers have brought out around 470 activists from the occupied hamlet, reports the German press quoting the police. Two activists took refuge in an underground tunnel, ready to “chain themselves to concrete blocks to delay the evacuation”, according to a press release from the movement. “Our tunnel is safe, only negligent police action can put us in danger here,” said one of the activists inside.
The government considers the extension of the mine necessary for Germany’s energy security, which must compensate for the interruption of Russian gas supplies, a compelling reason disputed by opponents who claim that lignite reserves are sufficient.