Lützerath eviction will also continue at night - Greta announces a visit
Created: 01/12/2023, 05:00
By: Martina Lippl, Kai Hartwig
The village of Lützerath at the Garzweiler lignite opencast mine is cleared.
Climate activists and the police clash.
Greta Thunberg announces her visit.
The news ticker.
Lützerath
-
Eviction
: Up to 800 climate activists are said to have holed up in houses.
Police operation
in
Braunkohleort
: demonstrators report "blows to the head".
Police
speak of
violence
: activists are said to have thrown Molotov cocktails at emergency services.
Greta Thunberg
announces visit: "Fridays for Future" initiator wants to support protests.
This
news ticker
for the
evacuation of Lützerath
on Wednesday (January 11) is updated regularly.
Update from January 11, 2023, 7:46 p.m.:
The clearance work in Lützerath continued after dark.
Activists held out on high stands and in tree houses on Wednesday evening in windy weather.
Construction machines drove back and forth, parts of Lützerath were brightly lit with floodlights, others plunged into deep darkness.
According to Aachen police chief Dirk Weinspach, two police officers were slightly injured on Wednesday.
However, the officials are able to work, he told journalists.
According to him, around 200 climate activists left the area voluntarily on the first day of the evacuation.
The work would continue overnight, albeit “on a reduced scale”.
The real challenge still lies ahead of the police, Weinspach said, referring to the clearing of the seven buildings on the site.
So far, the tactical planning has worked, emphasized the chief of police.
The clearance work in Lützerath will also continue at night.
© IMAGO/Rob Engelaar
Lützerath: NRW interior minister calls on activists to leave
Update from January 11, 2023, 5.40 p.m .:
NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) has asked the climate activists to leave Lützerath.
This is still possible for peaceful activists at any time without verification of identity, said Reul on Wednesday in Düsseldorf.
"This is our offer.
Protect the climate, but do not protect violent disruptors.”
The police had started the expected evacuation of Lützerath on Wednesday morning.
On site, she encountered "considerable ground structures" that the activists had created to prevent the eviction.
Reul spoke of "monopods, tripods, blockades and locks".
In the morning, 350 people were illegally staying in Lützerath.
Among them was a "mid-double-digit number of violent disruptors," said Reul.
In the meantime, RWE has erected a 1.7-kilometer fence around the site to prevent further influx.
"The operation is going according to plan, the situation is calm," said Reul.
However, the deployment is still in an early phase.
The police initially encountered the expected resistance.
Firecrackers, cobblestones and Molotov cocktails were flown.
After that the situation calmed down.
Eviction of the village of Lützerath — activists and police meet
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Lützerath eviction: the police draw a positive interim conclusion and praise the behavior of a "many activists"
Update from January 11, 2023, 4:10 p.m .:
The police are gradually combing the area in Lützerath at the moment.
Activists who are in tree houses are taken down from the trees with hydraulic platforms.
In addition, the emergency services clear barns and halls in which climate activists had holed up.
The actions take place without major incidents.
Police officers open the gate of a hall in search of activists.
© Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa
Update from January 11, 2023, 3:19 p.m .:
The police forces in Lützerath have drawn an overall positive interim conclusion of the clearance work.
A police spokesman said they were “very satisfied” with the operation so far.
"So far everything is going according to plan for the police," he continued.
"After a certainly mixed start this morning, where we also saw some stones thrown and Molotov cocktails thrown, I would say: the situation has calmed down considerably."
The speaker also found words of appreciation for most of the climate activists and their behavior.
"Above all, we expressly welcome the fact that a large number of activists have decided to leave the area peacefully and without resistance," said the police spokesman.
"We have experienced predominantly peaceful protests here, in sit-ins, on tripods - and these are forms of protest that we are super ready with." appropriate resistance behavior.
Greta Thunberg announces visit from Lützerath for Saturday – climate activist wants to support protests
Update from January 11, 2023, 2:42 p.m .:
The Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg wants to take part in the protests against the eviction of the village of Lützerath in the Rhenish lignite mining area.
Thunberg will come to a demonstration in the region on Saturday (January 14), organizers of the protests announced on Wednesday.
Thunberg is one of the most internationally renowned climate activists.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg wants to come to Lützerath on Saturday.
© Yui Mok/dpa
Thunberg had already traveled to Lützerath in September 2021 to demonstrate against coal mining and for compliance with the 1.5-degree climate target - one day before the federal elections at that time.
Climate protectionists are protesting against the evictions in numerous German cities these days.
According to the climate protection movement Fridays for Future, a protest is planned in Munich on Thursday (January 12) and in Hamburg on Friday (January 13).
On Saturday, people from over 50 places should travel together to Lützerath.
Eviction in Lützerath: projectiles against the police – the federal government “explicitly condemns violence”
Update from January 11, 2023, 2:23 p.m.:
The federal government has sharply condemned the sometimes violent resistance of climate activists to police officers during the eviction of the lignite village of Lützerath.
“There was resistance today and also riots during the ongoing evacuation of the village.
The federal government expressly condemns this violence," said government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit in Berlin.
"We have no understanding for that." Hebestreit warned that protests should only be "peaceful and move within the framework of our laws".
The police are there to enforce the law.
According to the police, Molotov cocktails, stones and pyrotechnics were occasionally thrown in the direction of the officers at the beginning of the operation.
However, there were also accusations from the activists that the police sometimes acted disproportionately during the operation.
A protester described "beatings to the head" by police officers.
Lützerath evacuation: Up to 800 climate activists are said to have holed up in houses
Update from January 11, 2023, 1:37 p.m.:
According to a spokeswoman for the “Lützerath is alive” initiative, “activists in the village have taken their blockade locations”.
Accordingly, these tree houses and the few buildings in the small town near the demolition edge of the Garzweiler opencast lignite mine are occupied, i.e. uninhabited single-family and farmhouses.
They also glue or chain themselves to the buildings.
"They then try to handcuff themselves to a pipe, for example," the spokeswoman said.
In some cases, the pipes are embedded in concrete.
This complicates the use of the police forces, who would first have to break up the concrete.
In addition to squatting, the protesters say they are also setting up poles – so-called monopods – in order to occupy them at a height of several meters.
As a modification, the activists also used tripods, so-called tripods.
These posts would also be occupied by an activist at a height of several meters.
The aim is to prolong the protest and make it more difficult to use.
The police themselves have not yet been able to provide any information on the situation in the houses.
"We do not know how many people are in the houses," said a police spokesman.
According to the climate activists, between 600 and 800 protesters are holed up in Lützerath.
According to the spokesman, the police suspect "several hundred" protesters.
Update from January 11, 2023, 1:15 p.m .:
In Lützerath, the police and climate activists are playing a cat and mouse game.
As before, the activists steadfastly refuse to obey the police announcements and continue to occupy halls, trees and houses.
According to Alexander Schäfer, who is on site as a reporter from
wa.de
for
IPPEN.MEDIA
, a large contingent of police is advancing to gradually clear the premises in Lützerath.
People are being carried away by police officers, some of them are holding out on the roofs of houses.
According to the reporter, bottles and firecrackers sometimes fly in the direction of the emergency services.
However, the police operation was overall calm and organized.
Climate activists are sitting on the roof of a house in Lützerath.
The police then began clearing the area.
© Sven Simon/Imago
Police operation in Lützerath: 200 celebrities demand an immediate stop to the clearance work in an open letter
Update from January 11, 2023, 12:57 p.m .:
The activists in Lützerath have received prominent support.
More than 200 well-known personalities have written an open letter calling for an immediate stop to the clearance work in the village occupied by climate activists in the Rhenish lignite mining area.
The excavation of the coal in Lützerath is "not just a question of the existence of a village, but a cause that is of global and climate policy trend-setting importance," reported the
mirror
on Wednesday, citing the letter.
The signatories include the actresses Katja Riemann, Thelma Buabeng, Pheline Roggan, the actors Peter Lohmeyer and Robert Stadlober as well as the bands Sportfreunde Stiller, Deichkind and Revolverheld, the pianist Igor Levit and the influencer Louisa Dellert.
The campaign was initiated by actress Luisa-Céline Gaffron and actor Jonathan Berlin.
The latter told the "Spiegel" that he wished "that our action would lead to a productive debate, that the next few days would be peaceful and the situation would not escalate".
Police operation in Braunkohleort: demonstrators report "blows to the head"
Update from January 11, 2023, 12:18 p.m .:
The police have reported physical attacks by some activists with Molotov cocktails and pyrotechnics.
However, demonstrators in Lützerath have also complained about the sometimes disproportionate use of officials.
"I got hit on the head myself, even though we were standing here, my hands were hooked," a climate activist told
WDR
.
They still want to protest non-violently: "We don't want any escalation with the police."
When asked about suspected projectiles being thrown at the police, one of her comrades-in-arms affirmed: "It is important to all of us that the protest here is peaceful." He is concerned with climate justice and questioning the political decision, which he sees as questionable, to give up Lützerath for lignite mining.
According to him, most local climate activists are peaceful.
Police officers carry a climate activist away from the occupied lignite town of Lützerath.
©Oliver Berg/dpa
Lützerath is being evicted: the RWE energy company wants to completely fence off the town
Update from January 11, 2023, 12:03 p.m .:
While the police are still clearing Lützerath, the energy company RWE has announced a measure.
After the police operation, a one-and-a-half kilometer fence will be built around the site, the company said in a statement: "It marks the company's own construction site, where the remaining buildings, ancillary facilities, roads and canals of the former settlement will be dismantled in the next few weeks.
Trees and bushes will also be removed.”
Update from January 11, 2023, 11:20 a.m.:
The eviction in Lützerath is likely to take quite a while.
The police forces have to remove individual pillars from the ground in many places with welding equipment and jackhammers.
A very tedious job, which of course takes a lot of time.
A police officer uses a welder to remove a floor pillar.
© Sven Simon/Imago
Eviction of Lützerath: Weather makes police and climate activists create additional problems
Update from January 11, 2023, 11:11 a.m .:
Police and climate activists are struggling with uncomfortable weather when clearing Lützerath.
On the night of Wednesday there were three to five liters of rain per square meter immediately before the start of the evacuation, said Jana Beck, meteorologist at the German Weather Service (DWD) in Essen.
The soils in and around the occupied place were already completely sodden.
It will continue to rain on Wednesday afternoon.
In the night to Thursday, the wind should also freshen up, isolated stormy gusts are possible.
The meteorologist expects up to 10 liters of rain per square meter again.
In the coming days it is also supposed to rain again and again in Lützerath.
"There will not be a permanently precipitation-free phase until the weekend," said Beck.
In Lützerath, the clearing of the lignite site is in progress.
The police are trying to persuade the climate activists to give up.
© Christopher Neundorf/Imago
Lützerath eviction in progress: According to the police spokesman, the situation is currently stable - no information about injuries
Update from January 11, 2023, 11:05 a.m .:
On Wednesday morning, a police spokesman stated that the situation was “stable” after the start of the evacuation of the occupied lignite town of Lützerath.
The emergency services cordoned off the entire area, and no one could enter without authorization, it said.
Now the police are active on the entire site, removing barricades and bringing activists outside.
People could - if at all - only move around the area to a limited extent.
The police spokesman initially had no information about possible injuries.
Update from January 11, 2023, 10:52 a.m .:
According to the police, children are also taking part in the protest against the eviction of the lignite site, as also reported by
24rhein.de
.
“In Lützerath there are small children.
Due to the far-reaching dangers in the area of operation, the Aachen police are appealing to the legal guardians to leave the area immediately with their children," it said in a statement.
The youth welfare office is also on site and supports the emergency services.
Police clear lignite site: activists want to stay and continue their protest
Update from January 11, 2023, 10:47 a.m .:
The climate activists in Lützerath apparently do not want to give in.
A spokeswoman has confirmed that despite the police's request to leave the lignite site, the village will continue to be occupied.
"People are determined to persevere, to protect the trees and the buildings," said Mara Sauer, a spokeswoman for the "Lützerath Lives" initiative.
She has no information about possible injuries.
The police began clearing Lützerath on Wednesday morning.
Among other things, activists are on tree houses, in buildings and huts, said Sauer.
"It will definitely take a long time," she emphasized with a view to the eviction.
Update from January 11, 2023, 10:30 a.m .:
On Tuesday evening (January 10), two urgent procedures were used to overturn the ban on staying in the village of Lützerath in the Rhenish lignite mining area.
But on Wednesday, the administrative court in Aachen announced that the ban had been reconfirmed.
Climate activists had already failed with an urgent application before the administrative court last week.
The Higher Administrative Court in Münster confirmed the decision on Monday.
Update from January 11, 2023, 10:21 a.m .:
A sign can be seen on many house walls in the lignite town occupied by climate activists.
A yellow cross adorns many facades in Lützerath, the symbol has a special meaning.
Climate activists block an access road to the occupied lignite mining town of Lützerath.
©Oliver Berg/dpa
Police speak of violence: activists are said to have thrown Molotov cocktails at emergency services
Update from January 11, 2023, 10:15 a.m .:
Apparently, the police in Lützerath have the situation at the lignite site under control.
According to the police, individual climate activists used violence beforehand and threw Molotov cocktails, pyrotechnics and stones at the emergency services.
Nevertheless, a local police spokesman said of the Lützerath evacuation: "I would have expected it to be worse." Despite the voluntary withdrawal of some activists, the police are still faced with the problem of removing the remaining protesters from the barricades, trees or other places of retreat.
Numerous climate activists are currently holed up there.
Lützerath before the eviction: That has happened until now
View photo gallery
Update from January 11, 2023, 9:49 a.m .:
The police have given activists an ultimatum to give up the occupation of the lignite town of Lützerath.
There is now one last possibility to leave the place voluntarily.
Otherwise, "you must expect the application to be subject to immediate coercion," said a police announcement on Wednesday morning.
The first activists followed the request and left voluntarily.
They were escorted off the premises by police officers.
But many want to continue to resist.
Update from January 11, 2023, 9.33 a.m .:
First violent actions by protesting activists in Lützerath: According to the police, stones and pyrotechnics were thrown in the direction of the emergency services when the lignite town in North Rhine-Westphalia was cleared.
Molotov cocktails were also used.
"Stop throwing Molotov cocktails immediately.
Behave peacefully and non-violently!” wrote the police on Twitter.
Update from January 11, 2023, 9:13 a.m .:
Meanwhile, police forces have begun to fence in the village of Lützerath in the Rhenish lignite mining area, which is occupied by climate activists.
Update from January 11, 2023, 9:05 a.m .:
In Lützerath, the police have asked to leave the lignite site occupied by activists.
"You can now leave the area here without further consequences for you," said a police loudspeaker announcement on Wednesday morning.
"Due to the corresponding general decree of the Heinsberg district of December 20th, 2022, you are prohibited from staying and entering the area specified therein in and around the location of Lützerath." The police are asking everyone who is there to leave the area.
Update from January 11, 2023, 8.50 a.m .:
Hundreds of police officers moved to the lignite town of Lützerath on Wednesday and penetrated into the place occupied by activists.
It came to the first scuffles, as dpa reporters reported.
A police spokesman confirmed that emergency services want to completely change the place.
Climate activists are in the occupied lignite town of Lützerath.
© Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa
Lützerath eviction began on Wednesday (January 11): Police and activists face each other
Update from January 11, 2023, 8.45 a.m .:
Activists and police officers face each other directly on the edge of the occupied lignite town of Lützerath.
There were initially no direct confrontations on Wednesday morning.
An activist appeals to the officials to stop the operation.
"This mission can't have been the reason you became a police officer."
The police union (GdP) in North Rhine-Westphalia said that the "hot phase of the police operation to clear" began this Wednesday.
The legal situation is clear that Lützerath may be dredged for coal production.
"If we no longer accept the decisions of our courts, our rule of law is at an end," said GdP state chairman Michael Mertens.
"All peaceful climate protectors are called upon to distance themselves from violent criminals and to isolate them!"
Update from January 11, 2023, 8.40 a.m
.: In the occupied lignite town of Lützerath, the activists are preparing for an imminent evacuation by the police.
On Wednesday morning, sirens and alarm bells rang through the occupied location.
"We think it's about to start because a lot of police cars have driven here," said a spokeswoman for the activists.
"A never-ending chain of police cars drives through the opencast mine," said the Telegram channel "Lützerath Lebt!
Info Channel".
Police officers advance to the brown coal town of Lützerath, which is occupied by climate activists.
The eviction has begun.
© Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa
Some activists climbed onto tall monopods and tripods - which are trunks tied together with platforms.
They were erected in the past few days to make it as difficult as possible for the police to get to the activists.
Climate activists occupy a lignite site in NRW: dozens of police vehicles are on site
Update from January 11, 2023, 7:30 a.m.:
The energy company RWE has announced that it will start “dismantling” the Rhenish lignite town of Lützerath this Wednesday.
"As one of the first measures, a construction fence a good one and a half kilometers long will be erected for safety reasons," the group said in the morning.
The group left it open whether the police operation to clear the site would begin and referred to the police.
According to a spokesman for the Aachen police, an evacuation in the Rhenish lignite town of Lützerath can be expected “anytime from Wednesday”.
He announced further closures of the place in the morning.
The spokesman said that Lützerath could be surrounded by the police during the operation.
The police are preparing to clear Lützerath.
©Oliver Berg/dpa
Before the evacuation in the Rhenish lignite town of Lützerath, which is expected from this Wednesday, the police are pulling together strong forces.
Around the place occupied by climate activists, dozens of police vehicles were on the road early Wednesday morning, as dpa reporters reported.
It was raining heavily and continuously, the ground was soggy.
Nach Angaben der Aachener Polizei soll der Einsatz zur Räumung des Ortes frühestens an diesem Mittwoch beginnen. Die bevorstehende Räumung des Protestdorfs ist nach Einschätzung des Aachener Polizeipräsidenten Dirk Weinspach einer der herausforderndsten Einsätze der letzten Jahre. Die Polizei erhält dafür Unterstützung aus dem ganzen Bundesgebiet. Aktivisten haben etwa 25 Baumhäuser errichtet, einige davon in großer Höhe.
Räumung von Lützerath steht bevor: Klimaaktivisten haben das verlassene Dorf in NRW seit Monaten besetzt
Ursprungsmeldung vom 10. Januar 2023: Erkelenz – Das Dorf Lützerath im Westen von Nordrhein-Westfalen ist verlassen. Ursprüngliche Bewohner haben sich eine neue Heimat gesucht. Unter ihm liegen 280 Millionen Tonnen Braunkohle. Der Energiekonzern RWE will die Kohle dort abbaggern. Der Grund und die Gebäude gehören RWE. Dafür sind vor Monaten Klima-Aktivisten eingezogen und haben Lützerath besetzt. Die Kohle dort muss im Boden bleiben, fordern sie.
Lützerath ist zum Symbol für die Klimapolitik der Bundesregierung und NRW geworden. Es müsse einen früheren Kohleausstieg geben, so der Vorwurf. Denn, mit dem Abbaggern ist das Einhalten des 1,5 Grad-Ziels aus dem Pariser Klimaabkommen nach Ansicht von Experten fast unmöglich.
Polizei sorgt sich um Gewalteskalation: Lützerath soll am Mittwoch (11. Januar) geräumt werden
According to the police, the evacuation of Lützerath must be expected at any time.
The exact time is still open.
The Higher Administrative Court of North Rhine-Westphalia basically gave the green light on Tuesday (January 10).
The activists failed again in court in a dispute over a residence ban.
According to information from the police, the village should not be cleared before Wednesday (January 11).
The authorities want to provide information on Tuesday (January 10) together with Heinsberg district administrator Stephan Pusch in the city of Erkelenz, to which Lützerath belongs, about the use of the Garzweiler opencast mine.
Various groups are now demonstrating in Lützerath and the surrounding area.
A broad alliance has called for a large demonstration on Saturday (January 14).
Lützerath eviction is imminent: climate activists are sitting on so-called tripods.
©Oliver Berg/dpa
Proteste in Lützerath: Klima-Aktivisten binden sich auf Tripods fest
Während die Polizei mit Baggern schon Barrikaden wegräumt, bereiten sich Aktivisten weiter auf die Räumung vor. In den frühen Morgenstunden haben sie sich auf sogenannten Tripods festgebunden, berichtet der WDR. Sie würden von einer Menschenkette umringt. Die Polizei habe sie eingekesselt. Die Lage sei „dynamisch“, twittert der Aktionsticker Lützerath. Die Polizei setze demnach Schmerzgriffe und vereinzelt Pfefferspray ein.
"It will be a challenging operation with many risks," police chief Dirk Weinspach said on Monday morning on WDR.
In the past week, the Lützerath protests remained mostly peaceful - but on Sunday it "escalated again for the first time".
Among other things, stones were flown.
"That's not a good sign at first," said Weinspach.
"I hope that won't happen again next week."
(ml)
