Conflict over the Lützerath coal region: clashes between climate activists and the police

Created: 2023-01-02 23:04

By: Stefanie Fischhaber

The village of Lützerath is cleared for coal mining.

But climate activists are opposed to the eviction.

The first clashes with the police broke out on Monday.

Lützerath - The small village of Lützerath in the district of Heinsberg is to be cleared at the beginning of 2023 so that the energy company RWE can excavate the lignite underneath.

The former residents are already gone, but the climate activists of the "last generation" will not be scared away.

On Monday (January 2nd) the first clashes broke out between the police and the activists.

Eviction in Lützerath: RWE prepares coal mining in Heinsberg

That Lützerath should be cleared for coal mining has long been decided.

The village was cordoned off as early as December.

But climate activists are still occupying the settlement, whose former residents have moved away.

They want to stop the excavators - practically, but also symbolically.

Against global warming and for climate protection.

The conflict, which has so far been more of a theoretical nature, is slowly coming to a head.

On Monday, the police and the energy company RWE, which now owns the land and houses, arrived to prepare for the eviction.

This should actually take place in mid-January.

Groaning excavators are now standing all around, and police officers in heavy protective gear have lined up.

"Last generation" wants to stop the eviction of Lützerath

Climate activists want to stop the eviction of Lützerath.

© Henning Kaiser/ dpa

Across from them, rows of people in white full-body suits sat.

A barricade blazed in front of them to protect the village from the police.

The "Last Generation" activists blocked the access road to the settlement.

"People here are trying to prevent the police from coming to the village to make preparations for the village to be demolished," said Julia Riedel, spokeswoman for the "Lützerath Lives" initiative, the German Press Agency.

"It's impossible to watch how the madness of everyday life ultimately wipes out humanity," said climate activist Wolfgang Metzeler-Kick of the dpa.

A police spokesman said that the evacuation of Lützerath was by no means planned for Monday.

If necessary, however, access roads would have to be cleared so that the energy company RWE could get through with its construction machines.

As RWE announced, three country roads near Lützerath were permanently closed on Monday.

Clashes between climate activists and the police in Lützerath

In the course of this, there were scuffles between police officers and climate activists around noon.

Videos of the clashes were circulated on Twitter.

They show how the police are trying to push back the activists.

As the dpa reports, the climate protectors also threw stones, firecrackers and bottles at the police officers.

After that, the situation initially calmed down again.

The police then withdrew.

also read

Dramatic rescue: fire brigade frees mother and child from burning house

READ

Dying Village: What the last inhabitants of Lützerath are planning

READ

Fireworks glued together – man from North Rhine-Westphalia loses two fingers

READ

Darts professional Wade continues in the Leverkusen hospital

READ

Luke Mockridge back at Sat.1 – criticism hailed: "Are you serious?"

READ

Fancy a journey of discovery?

My space

The activists believe that the police want to provoke an escalation.

On the other hand, “a very colorful mix of strategies” is being used, says spokeswoman Mara Sauer.

When asked if these were non-violent, she replies: "For us, the safety of everyone involved is our top priority.

And there will be no escalation from us.” What the police are doing is “an entirely different question”.

Police want to de-escalate in Lützerath: the situation is tense

Meanwhile, police spokesman Andreas Müller emphasized that no evacuation was really planned.

The approach is de-escalating.

But one thing is clear: if the police show up in front of Lützerath, this will lead to reactions on the other side.

"I think you can tell that it gets emotional and that the situation is different when the police are actually here," he said.

The first evictions are scheduled for January 10th.

Meanwhile, research by Welt am Sonntag showed that the climate activists of the "last generation" are sometimes even paid for their protests.

(

)