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Police officers protect the fence around the remains of Lützerath and use water cannons
Photo: INA FASSBENDER / AFP
Anyone who has been in Lützerath in the last few days, the small hamlet that has become a symbol of the climate crisis because activists occupied it and which the police then wanted to evacuate with a complete performance display of possible police units, was surprised: The great escalation that was expected by many - the NRW Ministry of the Interior had spoken in advance of a week-long operation, there were rumors of traps and extremists - it actually did not take place in the first three days.
It was only on Saturday that what had previously been more mud than battle became the final mud battle around Lützerath: There were serious riots when, according to police reports, a good thousand demonstrators tried to break through police barriers in order to still reach Lützerath.
The day had started like the last ones in Lützerath, it was peaceful and the weather was rather uncomfortable.
Which shouldn't be an obstacle for many to set out for the softened soil of the region, the so-called Rhenish area.
Katharina Schmied and Christian Schuster, for example, got on the train in Stuttgart at 5.30 a.m. to come to the demonstration, for which mobilization had taken place across Germany.
"The train from Düsseldorf was extremely full of demo participants, reminiscent of the times of the 9-euro ticket," they told a SPIEGEL reporter on site.
It is unclear how many people were there, the climate activists speak of 35,000 people, the police in the early evening of around 10,000 and later of 15,000 people.
The center of the demonstration was to be a stage, where climate icon Greta Thunberg later appeared, who told SPIEGEL in an interview in advance that the “international climate movement” is looking very closely at what is currently happening in and around Lützerath and is “about it exchanges.
The actions here triggered something.«
It was already clear in the past few days that demonstrators would try to get to Lützerath and the Garzweiler opencast mine.
That had been announced in the relevant circles and that's how it was to happen, according to the police, around 1,000 demonstrators made their way to the hamlet in the early afternoon.
And to the demolition edge of the opencast mine.
The police and the district of Heinsberg warned of the "absolute danger to life" at this location, the demonstrators could not be stopped there, some penetrated into the opencast mine.
Lützerath itself is in the immediate vicinity of the demolition edge, it had been surrounded by a double fence in the past few days, with police vehicles in front of it and behind them water cannons and security staff from RWE.
One was, it had been said in advance from police circles, prepared for breakthrough attempts.
The demonstrators with the goal of Lützerath ran towards the police. SPIEGEL reporters on site saw them break through the first police lines.
Pepper spray was used, batons.
The cavalry squadrons, which had only been seen in Lützerath in the past few days when the animals were being moved, were used, and later the water cannons as well, when the demonstrators had made it to just before the fences of Lützerath.
The number of injuries on Saturday evening is still unclear
How many people were injured was initially unclear in the evening.
Images of bleeding people were shown on social media, there was talk of broken noses and lacerations.
The police themselves could not give any specific figures at around 7:30 p.m. when asked.
The officials were put under considerable pressure, several vehicles were damaged and the tires punctured.
With the onset of darkness, the situation in Lützerath seemed to calm down, and many demonstrators made their way back.
"As things stand at present, no one has managed to get into Lützerath," a spokesman told SPIEGEL.
In the hamlet there are still a few squatters in the trees and tree houses, at least two are still in a self-dug tunnel system about four meters deep.
How long it will take until Lützerath is completely razed to the ground remains to be seen, the responsible police chief Dirk Weinspach (Greens) told SPIEGEL on Friday evening that he expects the deployment to last several days.
The political discussion about Lützerath should not die down even then.
(You can read about the details of Saturday here.)
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