Status: 07.01.2023 8:42 p.m
Police and activists are preparing to clear Lützerath in North Rhine-Westphalia. The village is to give way to opencast coal mining. Barricades were erected on the streets.
More activists are gathering in the town of Lützerath in North Rhine-Westphalia, which is threatened with eviction because of the lignite opencast mine. Scores of people arrived on Saturday and were taken to town on shuttle buses from nearby train stations, reporters said. Activists erected new barricades on the streets of Lützerath, according to the dpa news agency, concreted gas bottles in the road to make evacuation more difficult.
New builder expected
The climate activist Luisa Neubauer is expected for Sunday. She called on supporters of the protest to also come to Lützerath: “Society is ready to stand up for a safe and sustainable world, we will show that in Lützerath. During the village walk on Sunday and in the next few weeks.”
The “Lützerath unräumbar” alliance, which includes groups such as Fridays for Future, Ende Gelände and Last Generation, has also announced public “action training” for civil disobedience. Lützerath is the new hotspot for the climate movement, said Christoph Bautz from the Campact organization. “Anyone who digs up this coal and converts it into electricity is breaking the 1.5-degree limit and breaking the Paris climate agreement.”
A large demonstration is also to take place next Saturday – even if the police have already cleared the place by then.
Lawsuit against residence ban
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution recently described the protest movement as heterogeneous, but those willing to use violence are in the minority. According to the Ministry of the Interior, civil-democratic actors made up the overwhelming majority.
Activists had also sued against a residence ban on Lützerath imposed by the Heinsberg district. In the first instance, the administrative court in Aachen dismissed the complaint in summary proceedings, whereupon the activists lodged a complaint with the higher administrative court (OVG) in Münster. However, this will not decide before next Monday, said a court spokeswoman.
Scientists doubt the need for coal
Lützerath, which has already been abandoned by its original residents, is to make way for the neighboring RWE Garzweiler opencast lignite mine. The black-green state government wants to have the village cleared of the activists – the police could start with this from next Monday according to the eviction order of the district. A report by scientists last year raised doubts as to whether the coal under Lützerath is needed at all – even with higher coal consumption. The state government points out that in return for the excavation of Lützerath, the coal phase-out in NRW was brought forward to 2030.
Protests around the Hambach Forest
About four and a half years ago, violent protests broke out during the clashes over the Hambach Forest – a grove that was to make way for another opencast mine and is located around 20 kilometers from Lützerath. The administrative court in Cologne subsequently declared the eviction by the police to be illegal.