Police drags climate activists in western Germany

Police in riot gear dragged climate activists away from an abandoned village in western Germany that is close to being destroyed by an expanding coal mine.

Protesters barricaded themselves in to stop the energy company operating the nearby Garzweiler mine from extending.

Energy firm RWE owns the village; the last resident moved out over a year ago. There were violent scuffles as police wearing riot gear stormed the site early on Wednesday. They dragged some activists, many of whom were wearing scarves to mask their faces, away across the muddy ground.

The situation is now calmer, but many protesters remain. Some have formed human chains, and others have taken them to treehouses or the village rooftops.

Hundreds of activists in Lützerath have built precarious structures to sit in. Many of the activists have been camped out in treehouses linked by ropes. Lützerath is on the verge of being swallowed up by the vast open coal mine on its doorstep – a huge mechanical digger stands just metres from the tree line.

But several hundred climate protesters are determined to stop the company from getting at the lignite that lies underneath it. Some have been here for more than a year, squatting in abandoned brick buildings.

When I visited the camp a few days ago, many activists were busy reinforcing barricades and preparing piles of bricks. Some were practising rope-climbing skills.

“The coal has to stay in the ground,” says protester Dina Hamid.

Germany says it needs lignite if it’s to meet its energy requirements now that it can no longer rely on supplies from Russia. But the protesters reject this argument. Dina Hamid tells the BBC: “The climate crisis is now, and we know that coal should have been stopped years ago.”

Lützerath is likely to be the last German village lost to a coal mine. The government has pledged to bring forward the phase-out of coal in North Rhine-Westphalia, the state in which the mine lies, to 2030. The national target is 2038.

RWE and the regional ministers have agreed to limit the extension of the mine; plans to demolish and excavate five other villages have been scrapped.

DW/S.O