The police dragged the Swedish climate activist away from a coal mine demonstration
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was arrested in western Germany on Tuesday. Reporters captured the moment Thunberg was taken away by riot police during a protest against the expansion of a coal mine in Luetzerath, North Rhine-Westphalia.
Located between Aachen and Düsseldorf, the village is currently planned to be relocated to expand the nearby Garzweiler lignite mine.
A police spokesperson in nearby Aachen told media that Thunberg was part of a group of protesters who “stormed” the perimeter of the mine and approached the edge of the excavation, which was described by authorities as “steep and extremely dangerous”.
In photographs and videos that quickly circulated on social media, four police officers from the NR-W police can be seen carrying Thunberg by the arms and legs for a short distance. She smiles, as protesters chant “you are not alone” – in English – and the media record and take pictures.
Police eventually released Thunberg and led her away. “We know who she is,” they told reporters when asked why they had not followed procedure and written down her personal information.
Police told Sky News this was the second time this week Thunberg has been detained as part of the Luetzerath protest. She arrived in the area on Friday and joined the German activists on Saturday to “oppose” the authorities’ plans for the village. Some of the activists have started squatting in the buildings from which local residents have already been evicted.
More than 1,000 police officers are currently involved in efforts to evict the goats from Luetzerath, so the village could be demolished to make way for the mine, which is owned by the Essen-based multinational energy company RWE.
Climate activists argue that coal mining will increase carbon dioxide emissions and disrupt the Paris climate agreement plan to limit global warming. RWE has claimed it can offset emissions through European carbon caps. The Green Party, which is currently part of the German government coalition, has endorsed the company’s position.
After giving up natural gas imports from Russia because of the conflict in Ukraine, Germany has moved to expand coal production and delay the shutdown of nuclear power plants. Thunberg has encouraged the latter measure was preferable to burning coal, although she had previously condemned atomic energy.
Thunberg, now 20, gained international fame for refusing to go to school on Fridays in protest against the name of climate change.
(RT.com)