End of tunnel occupation in Lützerath: protests continue

Created: 01/16/2023Updated: 01/16/2023 15:08

Demolition work after the evacuation in Lützerath.

©Oliver Berg/dpa

According to RWE, the last activists left the cleared lignite village on Monday.

But the protests against lignite mining continue in other places.

And politicians are not done with the issue either.

Erkelenz - The end of Lützerath is within reach: Five days after the start of the evacuation of the lignite town, two remaining climate activists left an underground tunnel under the settlement voluntarily on Monday.

According to RWE, these were the last activists on site.

This ended the police evacuation.

The dismantling of the former settlement will be completed "in the coming days".

Elsewhere in the Rhenish lignite mining area, the protests against coal-fired power generation continued.

On Monday morning, for example, eight activists occupied a lignite excavator in the Hambach opencast mine, 20 kilometers from Lützerath.

As a result, the device had to temporarily cease operation.

However, the protest action ended after just a few hours.

The eight squatters left the excavator voluntarily on Monday afternoon, RWE reported.

A good four kilometers as the crow flies from Lützerath, five climate activists - including two in wheelchairs - abseiled down from a motorway bridge on Monday morning.

The traffic on Autobahn 44 continued to flow during the action, but nothing worked on the country road under the bridge.

According to the police, this action was also over by noon.

The energy company RWE emphasized that the two activists who were still under Lützerath left the tunnel voluntarily.

One was "relieved" that the "life-threatening situation" had ended in this way.

"A rescue from the tunnel against the announced resistance of the people would have been associated with high risks, also for the rescue workers," said the group.

The Lützerath activists also said on Twitter that the two people had left the tunnel “themselves”.

"A thousand thanks for your life-threatening action against lignite and capitalism," they wrote.

Meanwhile, Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser condemned the methods used by climate activists during the evacuation of the Lower Rhine lignite village.

"With burning barricades, a tunnel in danger of collapsing and shaky tree houses at high altitude, activists have not only put themselves in great danger, but also the emergency services," wrote the SPD politician in a statement on Monday.

Political conflicts should not be carried out on the backs of emergency services.

“Anyone who wants to enforce their concerns with violence is leaving the democratic discourse,” emphasized Faeser.

You risk the support of society for the fight against the climate crisis.

At the same time, Faeser announced that the “individual allegations of violence by police officers” against activists should also be investigated.

"If the allegations are confirmed, they must have consequences," Faeser made clear.

Activists had accused the police of excess violence during the large demonstration on Saturday.

A "high two-digit to three-digit number" of participants was injured, said a spokeswoman for the demonstrators' paramedic service on Sunday.

Among them were many seriously injured and some critically injured.

According to the police, nine activists were taken to the hospital by ambulance.

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The North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) meanwhile campaigned before the synod of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland for support for the coal compromise, which is currently leading to the generation of larger quantities of coal, but also an early phase-out of coal-fired power generation in 2030 NRW includes.

Nobody made it easy for themselves.

After the complete demolition of Lützerath, the energy company RWE wants to excavate the coal underneath.

A company spokesman said the bucket-wheel excavators could reach the former village as early as March or April.

dpa