The evacuation of the village of Lützerath continues on Sunday. Image: dpa / Federico Gambarini
Germany
The clearing of Lützerath in the Rhenish lignite mining area, which the energy company RWE wants to excavate to extract the lignite underneath, continues on Sunday. According to the police, only a few of the activists who have holed up there are still in Lützerath.
On Saturday, many thousands of people demonstrated against the eviction and demolition in the neighboring town of Keyenberg. Among them was the Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. On the fringes of the large demonstration, there were clashes between demonstrators and the police. According to police, people were injured on both sides.
You can find out what’s happening in Lützerath in our live ticker. Here you can read how the fourth day of the eviction went on Saturday.
2:23 p.m .: The demolition of Lützerath is progressing
Meanwhile, the demolition of Lützerath progressed rapidly, most of the buildings were no longer standing by Sunday. According to the police, only a few activists were still on the site. However, two climate activists were still holding out in an underground tunnel. When the clearing and the demolition are finished, the energy company RWE wants to excavate the coal lying under Lützerath.
1:02 p.m .: Lützerather activists accuse the police of excessive violence
The organizers of the protests against the demolition of the village of Lützerath on Saturday have accused the police of excess violence. During the demo there was “an unbelievable level of police violence,” said a spokeswoman for “Lützerath Leben” of the German Press Agency. A spokeswoman for the demonstrators’ medical service said a “high two-digit to three-digit number” of participants were injured on Saturday. Among them were many seriously injured and some critically injured.
The injuries were partly caused by pepper spray, batons and fist attacks by the police. There were a particularly large number of head injuries. “So the police not only hit activists in the head in individual cases, but systematically,” said the spokeswoman.
A video shows how the Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, the German activist Luisa Neubauer and other activists are pushed back in a field by police forces.
11.16 a.m .: Activists continue to wait in the tunnel
Two climate activists are still holding out in an underground tunnel four days after the Lützerath evacuation began. How long it will take to get them out of there is completely unclear, said a spokesman for the energy company RWE on Sunday, whose company fire brigade took over the action described as “rescue”. The fire brigade regularly checks a ventilation device on the shaft. A spokeswoman for the activist group “Lützerath is alive” said on Sunday that the condition of the two was stable.
Police forces are standing in front of the building where the entrance to the tunnel is supposed to be.Image: dpa / Federico Gambarini
10.22 a.m .: Police: Around 70 injured officers – according to “Lützerath is alive” demonstrators seriously injured
According to police, more than 70 officers have been injured in connection with the protests since Wednesday. Part of it is due to the use of a large demonstration on Saturday, said a spokesman for the Aachen police on Sunday. The injuries are due to arguments with climate activists as well as missteps due to the nature of the ground or other circumstances. Most officers are still able to work.
According to the “Lützerath Leben” initiative, there were “numerous serious injuries” among the demonstrators during the protests by coal opponents on Saturday, and in one case even a life-threatening injury. The police used “massive batons, pepper spray, armored vehicles, water cannons, dogs and horses” against the climate activists in the fields in front of Lützerath.
8:00 a.m.: Injured in clashes on the sidelines of a demonstration near Lützerath
According to the police, people were injured on both sides in clashes between demonstrators and the police on the fringes of a large demonstration on Saturday. The exact number of injured and the circumstances were not initially known. The police spoke of 15,000 participants in the demonstration, the organizers estimated the number at 35,000.
Demonstrators and police faced each other on Saturday.Image: dpa / Federico Gambarini
Some of the demonstrators tried to go to Lützerath, some also tried to get into the opencast mining area. The police forcibly pushed them back. The police warned that it was life-threatening to walk to the edge of the mine because the ground had softened due to the rain and there was a risk of landslides. According to the police, individual demonstrators also attacked police vehicles and threw pyrotechnics in the direction of the officers. A spokesman said tires were punctured and wing mirrors kicked off.
According to the police, around 5,000 of the 15,000 who had traveled did not take part in the meeting. They immediately moved in the direction of the quarry edge and Lützerath and were therefore regarded as “disturbers”. Around 1,000 of them, mostly masked, put considerable pressure on police chains at the edge of the opencast mine and on the outskirts of Lützerath, the spokesman said. “As a result, tactical batons and pepper spray were used.” Water cannons were also used to prevent people from entering Lützerath.
The spokesman emphasized that sticks and water cannons were only used after the people had been threatened with coercion “countless times”.
Various videos from Saturday are widely shared on social media. The actions of the police are heavily criticized.
(With material from dpa and AFP)
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