Protests at the weekend: why the demo at Lützerath escalated

Many injured and mutual allegations of violence: activists criticize the use of the police in Lützerath. The police accuse the demonstrators of escalating the situation. What is known so far?

How many people demonstrated on Saturday?

The information on the number of participants varies widely. According to police estimates, around 15,000 people came to the demonstration on Saturday. The organizer speaks of around 35,000 participants.

Not an unusual deviation, says Tobias Singelnstein, a police researcher at the Goethe University in Frankfurt. “The truth will be somewhere in the middle, because it’s very difficult to estimate,” he explains. “The police usually estimate more conservatively, an organizer rather euphoric.”

When did the operation escalate?

A demonstration march above the village of Keyenberg was agreed between the police and the organizers. Already at the beginning of the demonstration, however, a number of climate activists left the agreed path and approached the edge of the demolition line and the closed-off town of Lützerath.

WDR-Journalist Frederik Fleig was there. “When the last large police lines were broken through there, simultaneously on several sides, a lot of violence broke out,” he says. “Pepper spray, punches, people in the mud.” Before the use of force by the police, however, there were many warnings to the demonstrators.

How violent was the police operation?

Mud, stones and firecrackers flew at the police, who hit demonstrators with sticks. Pictures and videos of the police operation flooded social media. At a press conference by the activists on Sunday, demonstration paramedic Iza Hofmann raised serious allegations: “All regions of the body were targeted, we had fractures in all regions of the body, but we mainly had head injuries. So the police not only in individual cases, but systematically on the Head beaten by activists.”

North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul defended the police action and called it “highly professional”. Videos would now be checked, as well as individual cases that have already been noticed. “Sometimes there are cases, we have two or three (…) where we also have the impression that a police officer has not behaved properly. (…) If we have proof that police officers have made mistakes, they have to be held accountable for it.”

Reul points out that so-called civil disobedience should not be used as a pretext for hidden violence and crime. The route agreed in advance with the organizers was not followed, and then the police acted.

What kind of violence did the activists emanate from?

Videos show how some activists throw mud, and pyrotechnics are used. Stones were also thrown at police officers. Reul spoke on Sunday evening in first also from Molotov cocktails. This has not yet been confirmed for the demonstration on Saturday.

How many people were injured?

On Monday, the “Lützerath Lives” initiative spoke of at least 90 injured demonstrators. At a press conference on Sunday, demonstration paramedic Iza Hofmann also reported on “some critically injured people”.

The police disagreed on Sunday. Nobody was critically injured. Nine activists were taken to hospitals by ambulance on Sunday. The police did not name the total number of injured demonstrators.

Florian Özcan, activist and spokesman for “Lützerath is alive”, told the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” (SZ) on Monday: “Fortunately there are no life-threatening injuries.” It’s not about “presenting things worse than they were,” Özcan continued. The paramedic reported her subjective impression and had no good diagnostic equipment at her disposal. The severity of the injuries to those affected could only be clarified in the hospital.

Reul told the “Bild” that 102 police officers were injured, nine were currently not able to work. However, some of them were not injured by the demonstrators. “Some injuries are simply due to local conditions.”

Is there a refurbishment?

In a press conference on Monday, NRW Interior Minister Reul spoke of checking the videos. In addition, action will be taken if ads are received, but he cannot yet provide any precise information on a number of ads that have already been received.

The individual incidents would have to be determined, according to criminologist Rafael Behr from the Hamburg Police Academy. “Mr Reul also says that he wants to be investigated – I would be very much in favor of him having the courage this time to also have independent bodies investigated and not to conduct the investigations through his own police force.”