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Day one of the eviction in Lützerath: Police meet activists
Photo: IMAGO/Jochen Tack
After dark, the clearing work continued in Lützerath at the Garzweiler lignite mine.
Activists continued to hold out in windy weather in the evening.
According to Aachen police chief Dirk Weinspach, two police officers were slightly injured during the evacuation.
The officials are able to serve.
According to him, around 200 climate activists left the area voluntarily on the first day of the evacuation.
Meanwhile, Federal Minister of Economics Habeck was concerned about criticism from the climate movement of his party because of the eviction.
"That also affects me or drives me, like everyone in my party," he said in the evening on ZDF's "heute-journal".
“But still we must explain what is right.
And it was right – unfortunately – to ward off the gas shortage, to ward off an energy emergency in Germany, also with additional electricity generation from lignite – and to bring forward the phase-out of coal.«
»In my opinion the place the wrong symbol«
According to Habeck, Lützerath is not "the continuation of the energy policy of the past: electricity generation from lignite".
"It's not, as is claimed, the eternal continuation, it's the final line below it." Unfortunately, the village of Lützerath could no longer be saved - "but it is the end of lignite-fired power generation in NRW".
"In this respect - with great respect for the climate movement - in my opinion the place is the wrong symbol."
Amid mostly peaceful protests, the police began on Wednesday to clear the lignite site occupied by activists in the Rhenish mining area.
By the afternoon, a spokesman was "very satisfied" with the course of events: "So far everything is going according to plan for the police." Massive resistance had been expected beforehand.
Early in the morning there were scuffles at the start of the evacuation in the Erkelenz district.
According to the police, a Molotov cocktail, stones and pyrotechnics were thrown in the direction of the officers.
The work would continue overnight, albeit "on a reduced scale."
The real challenge still lies ahead of the police, said Chief of Police Weinspach, referring to the clearing of the seven buildings on the site.
So far, the tactical planning has worked, he said.
The energy company RWE wants to tear down Lützerath in the west of North Rhine-Westphalia in order to mine the coal underneath.
The land and houses of the village, which is characterized by agriculture, now belong to RWE.
Activists live in the remaining premises, whose former residents have moved away.
They see no need to dig up and burn the coal.
aeh/dpa