Climate activist Greta Thunberg slams Germany’s Greens over support of mining village demolition
- Leading Green politicians have defended the demolition of Lützerath, arguing that the coal is needed to maintain energy security in the current crisis
- The clearing and demolition work at Lützerath began on Wednesday. Around 470 activists have since been removed, of whom 320 left voluntarily
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg criticised Germany’s Greens on Saturday for supporting the demolition of the village of Lützerath for lignite mining, ahead of a rally that drew thousands of protesters, according to police estimates.
Making deals with fossil fuel corporations such as energy giant RWE – which has bought the site of Lützerath for mining – “show where their priorities are”, Thunberg said of the Greens, who form part of Germany’s coalition government, in an interview with dpa.
Leading Green politicians such as Economy Minister Robert Habeck have defended the demolition of Lützerath, arguing that the coal below is needed to maintain energy security in the current crisis.
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“The coal that is in the ground here will not lower prices immediately. Anyone who thinks like that is simply out of touch with reality,” Thunberg said.
The Greens are also in power in the state of North-Rhine Westphalia, where the village of Lützerath has become the latest flashpoint for activists opposed to the government’s continued use of coal.
Police said that several thousand participants were at Saturday’s rally in the neighbouring village of Keyenberg, despite the pouring rain. Both Keyenberg and Lützerath belong to the larger Rhineland town of Erkelenz.
The motto of the demonstration is “Prevent eviction! For climate justice”.
Activists from climate action groups including Fridays for Future, Extinction Rebellion and Last Generation travelled to the site from across the country.
Aachen police chief Dirk Weinspach said the rally would be a challenge for the emergency forces, anticipating more participants than the organisers had announced. Police had previously spoken of 8,000 protesters.
Weinspach warned against attempts to enter Lützerath, which is now cordoned off, or a nearby open-cast mine – as activists had called for on social media.
In Lützerath, meanwhile, the police continued removing activists on Saturday. Officers climbed up trees where activists were holding out, according to a dpa reporter at the scene.
RWE said it was preparing to remove activists from a tunnel, in an operation described by a police spokesperson as a “rescue”.
The protesters in the tunnel were thought to be doing fine and had enough food to spend several days there, according to Bente Opitz of Lützerath Lebt (Lützerath Lives). Several dozen activists remain in the hamlet, on roofs and in trees, according to the activist group.
The police gave no comment on the number of remaining activists. A spokesperson said they had pretty much cleared the area of activists “above ground”, while around 15 “structures” remained, including tree houses and other hideouts.
Workers resumed their demolition of the remaining buildings early on Saturday, including the home of the last farmer in the hamlet, according to the dpa reporter at the scene.
Thunberg said she had previously visited Lützerath, which “looked completely different then”.
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Of the nearby open-cast mine, she said: “It looks like Mordor, it really does. It shows what humans under the wrong circumstances are capable of”, referring to the realm of evil in JR Tolkien’s book “Lord of the Rings”.
The clearing and demolition work at Lützerath began on Wednesday. Around 470 activists have since been removed, of whom 320 left voluntarily, according to the police.
The police knew about four injured activists, the spokesperson said, noting that the injuries had occurred during “resistance activities” such as people glueing themselves to things, as well as one fall.
Five police officers had been injured by pyrotechnics, while charges were issued against 124 people, mainly for breach of peace and resistance, the spokesperson said.
