The violent clashes broke out on the fringes of the demo when a few hundred people broke through the police lines near Lützerath and ran in the pouring rain to the demolition edge of the opencast mine. Stones and pyrotechnic objects were thrown at security forces. The police, for their part, used water cannons, batons and pepper spray against demonstrators. A police spokesman told the dpa news agency that “immediate coercion” had to be used to prevent the demonstrators from advancing to Lützerath.
Things calmed down in the evening. After the police asked them to leave the immediate area near Lützerath, many demonstrators started their way back at nightfall. The other people who initially stayed in the area were pushed back by a wide police line on the field, as reported by a dpa reporter.
D: Clashes on the fringes of climate demos
Thousands of people demonstrated again near the German town of Lützerath on Saturday against the clearing of the settlement for lignite mining. On the fringes of the rally, there were clashes between demonstrators and the police in the afternoon.
Thousands of demonstrators
The demo had started in Keyenberg, a neighboring town of Lützerath. According to the organizers, the number of participants had risen to 35,000 by the afternoon. The police spoke of 15,000 participants.
Lützerath has been cordoned off by the police for days. The buildings of the small settlement on the territory of the city of Erkelenz are currently being demolished to enable the energy company RWE to excavate the coal underneath.
Thunberg: “Betrayal of future generations”
Thunberg called for action against the climate crisis at the rally. “We must stop the destruction of this planet,” said the Swede. “However, the people in power do not act,” she criticized. This is “treason against future and present generations”.
Thunberg on demo in Lützerath
Thousands of people, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, demonstrated again near the German town of Lützerath against the clearing of the settlement for lignite mining. Thunberg called for action against the climate crisis at the rally.
The evacuation is based on an agreement between the federal government and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the energy company RWE. This also provides for the phase-out of coal in the federal state to be brought forward to 2030.
NRW: Black-Green defends eviction
NRW Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) and Minister of Agriculture Mona Neubaur (Greens) defended the eviction. Wüst said on Deutschlandfunk that the debates were “all conducted”. At a certain point “one thing is also decided”.
Neubaur told WDR that the “very climate-damaging” coal under Lützerath is needed for energy security. It was also possible to bring the phase-out of coal forward by eight years. This means that “less CO2 will be emitted into the atmosphere”.
Controversial issue within the Greens
The agreement with RWE is highly controversial within the German Greens. The Green German climate protection minister Robert Habeck has little understanding for the violent protests against the demolition: “There are many good reasons to demonstrate for more climate protection, for my sake also against the Greens. But Lützerath is simply the wrong symbol,” Habeck told the “Spiegel”. The village is not the symbol for “Keep it up!” at the Garzweiler opencast lignite mine in the Rhineland, but “it’s the finishing line”.
The Green Youth, on the other hand, supports the protests and speaks of a breach of the Paris climate agreement. Other representatives of the Greens also took part in the protests. “Thousands are on their way to stand up for climate justice,” wrote member of the Bundestag and climate activist Kathrin Henneberger on Twitter.
By Saturday afternoon, more than 2,500 party members had signed an open letter from the Greens’ base, which opposed the agreement to demolish and clear Lützerath.
Petition against eviction
A petition started by cultural workers against the eviction is supported by more than 18,000 people. The Left Party declared its solidarity with the protests. “Our solidarity is with the people who defend Lützerath,” said party leader Janine Wissler at a top meeting of the left in Berlin.
