Some 70 police officers were injured on Saturday January 14 in clashes with thousands of demonstrators opposing the extension of a coal mine in western Germany, German police said on Sunday.
About 15,000 demonstrators, according to the police – 35,000 according to the organizers -, including the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg protested against the extension of an open-pit lignite mine leading to the destruction of the hamlet of Lützerath, in the Rhine basin, between Düsseldorf and Cologne, supporting activists who occupied the site and whom the police have undertaken to dislodge since Wednesday.
The Lützerath lebt collective! reported on Saturday dozens of injuries, some of them serious, in the ranks of the militants, in particular because of dog bites and water cannons.
According to the police, legal proceedings have been launched against around 150 people.
The situation on the ground has returned ” very calm “ Sunday, according to police.
A delicate evacuation
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.
What is happening in Lützerath, a German village resisting the expansion of a coal mine?
