A year ago, the police cleared the brown coal mining town of Lützerath, and violence escalated during a demonstration. Dirk Weinspach, then police chief, led the operation. What does the Green Party say today about the strategies of the climate movement?
In the end, there are again bad images that haunt the republic: demonstrators attacking police officers. Officers rushing into the crowd with batons and pepper spray. The large demonstration on January 14, 2023 is escalating, even though the evacuation of the small town of Lützerath has been going on for three days largely without incident. Dirk Weinspach coordinated the operation as Aachen police chief – he of all people, a Green who sees himself as a climate protector – but took action against environmental demonstrators in the name of the law. The 64-year-old is now retired. What can be learned from Lützerath for dealing with climate protests?