The last diehards of the Lützerath camp, who are trying to prevent the extension of a coal mine in western Germany, received the support of Swedish activist Greta Thunberg on Friday.
After the evacuation operation of the hamlet launched this week by hundreds of police assisted by machines, between 20 and 40 militants still occupied the hamlet on Friday evening, according to a spokesperson for their movement at AFP.
Greta Thunberg surrounded by German activists on Friday.
CHRISTIAN MANG / REUTERS
The police said they were about to evacuate the last militants perched in the trees.
In a few days, most of the site which had been transformed into an entrenched camp was therefore dismantled and most of the occupants evacuated.
The old village, located in the Rhine basin, between Düsseldorf and Cologne, must disappear to allow the extension of a huge open-pit lignite mine, one of the largest in Europe, operated by the German energy company RWE.
Hands glued or roped
On this place, which has become the rallying point for opponents of fossil fuels from all over Europe, several thousand demonstrators are still expected on Saturday, led by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg who has already been there for the past two years.
Slogan of the demonstrators: “
Prevent the evacuation!
For climate justice
”.
Read alsoThe radical anti-coal environmentalists of Lützerath afflict the German Greens
However, the hours of the Lüzterath camp seem numbered.
Its perimeter was fenced by the police who are working to get out the activists, some of whom had roped themselves several meters high, while others had attached themselves to concrete blocks or stuck their hands together.
The demonstrators, expected Saturday from noon (11 a.m. GMT), will be confined to a nearby hamlet.
Activists apply glue to their hands before sticking to concrete blocks.
INA FASSBENDER / AFP
Others rope themselves up high to escape the police.
INA FASSBENDER / AFP
The evacuation operation mobilized police reinforcements from all over Germany, AFP noted on the spot, and at this stage took place without notable incident.
Eleven police officers were injured, including two with work stoppages.
A few criminal charges have been filed for resisting law enforcement and damaging property.
A protester taken away by the police.
INA FASSBENDER / AFP
Civil disobedience operations throughout Germany
Two activists took refuge in an underground tunnel, ready to "
chain themselves in concrete blocks to delay the evacuation
", according to a press release from the movement.
“
Our tunnel is safe, only negligent police action can put us in danger here
,” said one of the activists inside.
Others sat on rooftops in protest.
Activists took to the rooftops to protest.
INA FASSBENDER / AFP
Various civil disobedience operations in support of the movement have been reported across Germany over the past few days.
In Berlin on Friday, hooded activists set fire to trash cans and painted slogans on the facade of Greens offices.
The political party is part of the government coalition of Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, accused by activists of having betrayed them by signing a compromise with RWE, allowing the destruction of Lützerath, whose inhabitants were expropriated several years ago.
The government considers the extension of the mine necessary for Germany's energy security, which must compensate for the interruption of Russian gas supplies, a compelling reason disputed by opponents who claim that lignite reserves are sufficient.