(Lützerath) A demonstration by thousands of anti-coal activists in western Germany ended on Saturday evening after a day of anger over the extension of an open-pit mine and scuffles on the sidelines of the rally at which involved Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, causing several injuries.
The tense face-to-face with the police on the spectacular and dangerous site of this lignite mine continued until nightfall despite the rain, mud and stormy winds, noted journalists from the AFP.
PHOTO CHRISTIAN MANG, REUTERS
Climate activists Greta Thunberg and Luisa Neubauer take part in a demonstration against the expansion of the Garzweiler opencast lignite mine.
In the early evening, the site regained its calm, the demonstrators gradually leaving the place plunged into darkness.
“The protest is over,” a police spokesman told AFP.
“There are injuries on both sides, but we don’t yet know how many and how badly,” he added.
The Lützerath lebt collective! reports dozens of wounded in the ranks of activists, in particular because of dog bites and water cannons.
At least 20 activists were taken to hospital, said Birte Schramm, a first aid worker with the village’s Occupy movement. She specifies that some of them, “beaten by the police in the stomach and on the head”, suffered from injuries “could put their lives in danger”.
On the sidelines of the demonstration which gathered 15,000 people according to the police – 35,000 according to the organizers – groups of anti-coal activists sought to approach the precipice, a prohibited and dangerous zone, deplored the forces of the ‘order.
“The police barriers were broken down. To people in front of Lützerath: “Get out of this area immediately! ” , had tweeted the police in the afternoon.
“The police had to use water cannons,” police told AFP, reporting “violence”.
In the afternoon, AFP journalists witnessed scuffles with the police, targeted by fire from pyrotechnic devices. Media reported stone throwing.
On television images, a row of police in riot gear, helmets and equipped with shields, protected the edges of the pit by several tens of meters, facing a crowd of demonstrators.
The security forces also protected access to the hamlet of Lützerath, closed by gates and occupied by several dozen activists. The place has been being evacuated by the police since the middle of the week.
” Ashamed ”
It was in support of this occupation that the demonstration was organized on Saturday and symbolically led by the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg
PHOTO CHRISTIAN MANG, REUTERS
A policeman tries to subdue a person during the demonstration.
The Lützerath site, located in the Rhine basin, between Düsseldorf and Cologne, must disappear to allow the extension of the lignite mine operated by the German energy company RWE.
“It is shameful that the German government makes agreements and compromises with companies such as RWE”, launched Greta Thunberg in a black cap and jacket, from a platform.
“Lützerath coal must stay in the ground,” she told protesters, calling not to sacrifice the climate “for short-term growth and corporate greed.”
In front of her, the crowd of demonstrators forming a sea of anoraks and colorful umbrellas held up placards displaying “Stop coal”, “Lützerath lives! “.
Less than fifty activists are still there, according to a spokeswoman for their movement to AFP.
Trees were felled, many huts built high up by the activists were emptied of their occupants, as were the buildings in which they had been living, entrenched for two years.
Tunnel
The evacuation operation mobilizes police reinforcements from all over Germany and had at this stage taken place without any notable incident.
Some 470 activists were taken out of the occupied hamlet, reports the German press quoting the police.
Two militants took refuge in an underground tunnel, suggesting a risky intervention to get them out.
The evacuation operation in Lützerath is politically delicate for the coalition of Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, which governs with environmentalists, accused by activists of having betrayed their commitments.
The government considers the extension of the mine necessary for Germany’s energy security, which must compensate for the interruption of Russian gas deliveries, a compelling reason that opponents contest, in the name of the fight against fossil fuels.