LUETZERATH, Germany – Police in riot gear began evicting climate activists Wednesday from a condemned village in western Germany to be demolished for the expansion of a coal mine.
Some rocks and fireworks were thrown as police entered the small village of Luetzerath, which has become a flashpoint for debate over the country’s climate efforts, on Wednesday morning.
Police spokesman Andreas Mueller said the attacks on officers were “not nice” but noted that most of the protests so far have been peaceful.
He said police would stick to their tactics of trying to avoid escalation by offering to let any activists who leave on their own do so without facing further police action or prosecution.
Still, some protesters complained of undue police force and others said the scale of the police response — with police from across the country and water cannons on standby — was itself a form of escalation not warranted by the peaceful protest. At least one woman screamed in apparent pain as officers used force to remove her from a roadblock outside the village.
By Wednesday afternoon, dozens of activists remained encamped in Luetzerath, some in elaborate treehouses, as police moved slowly through the village, clearing barricades and a communal soup kitchen.
Some activists read books or played the accordion while perched on 3-meter stands. A few sat or stood on the roofs of Luetzerath’s remaining buildings despite the chilly wind.
“I’m really scared today,” said Petra Schumann, a 53-year-old local who had been at the site for several days, from a top-floor window of one of the few remaining houses. Schumann said she still had hope of preserving what remains of Luetzerath “until nothing remains; hope dies last.”
Workers from the German energy company RWE take down the location sign at the village of Luetzerath near Erkelenz, Germany, January 11, 2023.
Environmentalists say bulldozing the village to expand the nearby Garzweiler coal mine would result in huge amounts of greenhouse gas emissions. The government and the energy company RWE claim that the coal is needed to ensure Germany’s energy security.
However, a study by the German Institute for Economic Research questions the government’s stance. Its authors found that other existing coal fields could be used instead, although the cost to RWE would be greater.
Another option would be for Germany to increase production of renewable power, reduce demand through energy efficiency measures or import more coal or gas from abroad, the study found.
Citing the study and the urgent need to curb global carbon emissions, the protesters refused to listen to a court order on Monday that effectively banned them from the area.
Some activists expressed particular anger at the Green party, which is part of both regional and national governments that reached an agreement with RWE last year that allows it to destroy the village in exchange for ending coal use in 2030, rather than 2038.
Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck, a Green who is Germany’s economy and climate minister, defended the agreement as a “good decision for climate protection” that meets many of the environmental parties’ demands and saves five other villages from demolition.
A climate activist hangs from a rope in the village of Luetzerath near Erkelenz, Germany, January 11, 2023.
“I think climate protection and protests need symbols but the empty village of Luetzerath, where nobody lives anymore, is the wrong symbol from my point of view,” Habeck told reporters in Berlin.
Climate activists counter that the expansion of a massive open-pit coal mine runs counter to Germany’s international commitments to reduce emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases. The country is expected to miss its ambitious targets for the second year in a row.
Luetzerath “is now the European place of crystallization for the climate movement,” said Lakshmi Thevasagayam, spokesperson for the activist group Luetzerath Lives. “We know that the coal under Luetzerath is not needed for energy security – it needs to stay in the ground so we can achieve climate justice.”
“Now we can do something about the climate disaster, but at some point we won’t be able to anymore,” Thevasagayam said. She accused police of engaging in “a complete escalation” by going ahead with the eviction on Wednesday.
RWE said in a statement that a 1.5 kilometer fence will be built around the site. It appealed to activists to peacefully “end the illegal occupation” of the site, which it legally owns.
Andreas Mueller, the police spokesman, said authorities were prepared for the eviction operation until the final weeks, if necessary.
The heads of several environmental organizations planned to visit Luetzerath on Thursday to express solidarity with the activists there. A large protest was also planned near the site on Saturday, in which prominent Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg participated.
Source: sn.dk