Lützerath almost cleared: police officers have to carry Greta Thunberg away
Created: 01/16/2023 05:04
By: Teresa Toth, Moritz Serif, Christian Weihrauch
The evictions continue in Lützerath.
Two activists are still holding out in a tunnel.
The duration of the "rescue" is unclear.
The news ticker.
Tunnel under Lützerath:
Two activists are still in a tunnel that is in danger of collapsing due to the clearance.
Injured:
According to the police, several people were injured in the clashes.
Huge demonstration:
Thousands of people protested in front of the settlement on Saturday (January 14), including Greta Thunberg.
+++ 10:39 p.m .:
The North Rhine-Westphalian Minister of the Interior Herbert Reul (CDU) defends the actions of the police in Lützerath.
The police worked "highly professionally", said Reul on Sunday evening on the ARD talk show "Anne Will".
He will have any case of inappropriate police violence investigated.
"We've seen one or two films online where we say: 'That doesn't look good.' We'll take a close look at that, and we've also filed a criminal complaint just to be on the safe side, because I think it needs to be checked.
That's what I've always done in recent years, and that's how it's done now."
Lützerath: Police officers carry Greta Thunberg away
+++ 5.55 p.m .:
The Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg (20) surprisingly appeared again on Sunday afternoon at the edge of the lignite opencast mine near Lützerath.
She took part in a spontaneous demonstration and sang and danced with other climate activists.
A police spokesman said Thunberg briefly sat on a wall at the edge of the mine.
For their own safety, police officers had asked them to leave the wall.
When she failed to do so, the officers carried her a few steps further away.
The same went harmoniously.
Then the Swedish climate activist is on her way.
Greta Thunberg dances in Lützerath.
Shortly thereafter, she is carried away by the police.
© Federico Gambarini/dpa
"Only the two in the tunnel are left": Lützerath almost cleared - many buildings already demolished
+++ 4.15 p.m .:
The eviction in Lützerath on Sunday (January 15) is progressing rapidly.
According to the police, there are only a few activists left on the site.
Most of the buildings have already been demolished.
"There are now only the two left in the tunnel," said a police spokesman.
Most recently, there were still a few activists in the trees and tree houses of the settlement.
In the meantime, however, they have all been brought to the ground.
"All people are below - good work, high-altitude rescuers!" Wrote the NRW police union on Twitter.
All activists were roped down from the trees by the emergency services.
© Federico Gambarini/dpa
Lützerath: Dangerous situations for journalists during protests
+++ 3 p.m.:
The journalists’ association DJU takes stock of the reporting on the protest action and the eviction of Lützerath.
Accordingly, there were press-friendly working conditions for journalists within the settlement, as the association announced on Sunday (January 15).
However, during the police operations, the journalists had no access to the halls and a barn in the village, where physical injuries and dangerous behavior by the police towards activists are said to have occurred during the eviction.
During the first hours of the eviction on Wednesday (January 11), there were also numerous dangerous situations for the press representatives: inside, who came between the fronts of the police and protesters.
However, several members of the press suffered respiratory irritation from pepper spray.
According to the association, around 800 national and international media representatives were on site.
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Further demonstrations planned near Lützerath
+++ 1:54 p.m .:
The organizers and activists of the large rally on Saturday near Lützerath have announced further protests against the excavation of the hamlet and the lignite-fired power generation.
At a press conference on Sunday, the representatives of "Ende Gelände", "All Villages Remain" and "Fridays for Future" acknowledged the participation of tens of thousands of people in the protest around Lützerath as a sign of hope for the climate treasure in Germany and worldwide.
Lützerath: Evictions continue
+++ 12.58 p.m .:
While the above-ground clearance is progressing, there are still two activists in a tunnel under Lützerath.
How long it will take to get them out of there is completely unclear, according to a spokesman for the energy company RWE, whose company fire brigade took over the operation described as "rescue".
A spokeswoman for the activist group "Lützerath is alive" said that the condition of the two activists was stable.
According to Aachen police chief Dirk Weinspach, the tunnel is “a vaulted cellar, from which a four-meter shaft goes” and a horizontal construction, quotes the
daily news
.
"The construction is not safe," he suspects.
"What we have seen for draft and exhaust air is not suitable for ensuring a permanent supply of oxygen there so that the CO2 content does not rise too much."
Lützerath: More than 70 police officers injured
+++ 10.46 a.m .:
According to the police on Sunday, more than 70 police officers were injured in the course of the evacuation of the village of Lützerath, which has been ongoing since Wednesday.
A police spokesman said most of them were injured during the protests by coal opponents on Saturday.
The injuries were only partly due to violence by demonstrators.
Some of the officials, for example, also twisted their ankles in the muddy ground.
Lützerath eviction: Activists complain about serious injuries
+++ 10.12 a.m .:
After the large-scale demonstration against the evacuation of the village of Lützerath in North Rhine-Westphalia, the number of injured was initially unclear.
A spokesman for the Aachen police said on Sunday that there was still "no reliable information".
The police expected concrete numbers in the course of Sunday.
The "Lützerath is alive" initiative spoke of "numerous serious injuries" and in one case even of a life-threatening injury.
For example, the police used “massive batons, pepper spray, armored vehicles, water cannons, dogs and horses” against the climate activists in the fields near Lützerath.
Lützerath eviction: Activists speak of pure police violence
+++ 08.52 a.m .:
After the big demo on Saturday (October 14th), the Instagram channel “luetzibleibt” published videos and pictures from the police operation.
You can see police officers who attacked the demonstrators with batons.
The page writes: “What we have experienced today and in the last few days is pure police violence.
There have been several reports of serious head injuries and one person had to be taken to hospital by helicopter.”
Pictures and videos show the police action at the major demonstration in Lützerath.
© luetzibleibt/instagram
Update from Sunday, January 15th, 2023, 7.36 a.m .:
The police want to continue clearing the village of Lützerath on the edge of the Garzweiler opencast lignite mine on Sunday.
According to the police, climate activists are still staying on the village site, which has been cordoned off since Wednesday, for example in tree houses.
Two activists also stayed in a tunnel under a building.
How many coal opponents are still on the site is not known.
Eviction of Lützerath: Injured activists and police
+++ 9.40 p.m .:
According to the police, several people were injured in clashes between climate demonstrators and the police in front of the village of Lützerath.
There were injuries on both sides, a police spokesman told the
German Press Agency (dpa)
.
The number of injured people and the circumstances that led to the injuries were not initially mentioned.
Around 1000 of the demonstrators, mostly masked, put considerable pressure on police lines at the edge of the opencast mine and on the outskirts of Lützerath, the spokesman said.
As a result, multi-purpose batons, pepper spray and water cannons were used - but only after the people had been threatened with coercion "countless times".
He was initially unable to provide any information about further arrests.
The spokesman continued to say that people should continue to stay in tree houses on the closed-off area of Lützerath.
At least two people are still in an “underground floor structure”.
The police interrupted the evacuation measures on Saturday evening.
They are scheduled to continue on Sunday.
Police use water cannons to evacuate in Lützerath: emergency services clear the field
+++ 19:53:
The situation in Lützerath is gradually calming down.
Many demonstrators start their way home.
While Fridays for Future assumes 35,000 people, the police speak of 15,000 participants.
+++ 6:26 p.m .:
After the police asked them to leave the immediate area at the lignite town of Lützerath, many demonstrators started to return.
The situation calmed down early on Saturday evening when it got dark, a
dpa
reporter reported.
So it rained heavily again and again.
The other people who initially stayed in the area were pushed back by a wide police line on the field, as a
dpa
reporter reported.
There was shouting, but initially no clashes.
Demo in Lützerath: the situation calms down
+++ 17:13:
The police are now again using water cannons against the demonstrators.
She also stormed the field when there were still a few hundred demonstrators.
More and more people are going back to the wind turbines, reports
Der Spiegel
.
The police have now officially confirmed the use of water cannons and batons in the demo.
A police spokesman said "immediate coercion" would have to be used to prevent the protesters from advancing to Lützerath.
Demo in Lützerath: Police use water cannons
+++ 16:44: According to
Spiegel
, the police stopped using water cannons
after a short time.
The area is now gradually emptying.
+++ 16:37:
The police used water cannons against demonstrators shortly before the sealed-off village of Lützerath in the Rhenish lignite mining area, reports the
dpa
.
Hundreds of demonstrators faced the police in front of Lützerath.
From their ranks the cry "Off to Lützerath!
Off to Lützerath!”
+++ 16.02:
The situation in Lützerath remains tense.
According to
Spiegel
, the police used pepper spray against the demonstrators, who pushed back the emergency services.
The police threatened to use water cannons.
A police spokesman says they have not yet been deployed, but have been put in place.
Demo in Lützerath: Greta Thunberg calls on demonstrators to hold on
+++ 3.42 p.m .:
The police have withdrawn to the fence around Lützerath – this is reported by the
mirror
.
The double fence gates are closed so no one can get in or out.
Police have placed water cannons behind the fence, according to
Der Spiegel
.
Greta Thunberg spoke earlier at the Keyenberg rally and urged the demonstrators to hold on.
"There are 35,000 people in Lützerath right now," she said.
"You are the change, you are the hope."
Meanwhile, videos are circulating on social networks that criticize the violent actions of the police in Lützerath.
Left-wing politician Ferat Koçak shared a video showing police officers beating demonstrators.
Koçak writes: “The police in Lützerath brutally attacked peaceful demonstrators, children, young people and families with batons.
This is violence against democratic law [...].”
Lützerath: clashes between police and demonstrators
+++ 3.05 p.m .:
At the large demo in Lützerath there are clashes with the police.
Police officers are pushing back the activists who have formed a human chain - this is reported by
Spiegel
reporters who are on site.
Demonstrators throw mud at officers and set off firecrackers.
After the first line of police was broken through, they have now retreated further.
Over loudspeaker announcements, the police asked the demonstrators to withdraw, otherwise there was a threat of "physical coercion and water cannons".
The police officers keep running at the protesters and, according to
Spiegel
, hit them with batons.
“Thousands flow through the police lines.
We are showing that we are determined to defend Lützerath and to stand up for a good future for everyone!" tweeted the "Aktionticker Lützerath".
One person has already been arrested and is currently in custody.
"We will publish more information as soon as we can," writes the action ticker on Twitter.
Eviction in Lützerath: One person is in custody
+++ 1:09 p.m .:
Thousands of people traveled to Lützerath for the large demonstration, which started at 12 p.m.
As the Instagram channel "luetzibleibbt" writes in its story, the demonstration is currently moving through Keyenberg, north of Lützerath, in the direction of the final rally.
According to a tweet from the "Aktionsticker Lützerath" there were so many people on site that there were brief problems with the network: "We're sorry that we couldn't post anything: there are apparently sooo incredibly many people there that all our radio networks collapsed are.” In Lützerath, meanwhile, clearing continues.
Lützerath: Thousands want to come to the demonstration
Update from Saturday, January 14, 9:15 a.m .:
The clearance in Lützerath will continue.
"We're almost done above ground," said a police spokesman on Saturday morning (January 14).
There are still about 15 “structures” of the activists, including tree houses and shacks.
According to the police, the night passed "quietly" and without incident after the emergency services stopped clearing the settlement again on Friday evening.
In addition to the above-ground evacuation, attempts will continue on Saturday to penetrate a tunnel in which two people are staying, according to the police.
In a press release published by the “Aktionsticker Lützerath”, the two tunnel residents “Pinky” and “Brain” emphasized that the “improper and unqualified clearance” by the police could cause the tunnel to collapse and put their lives in danger.
Lützerath: Eviction by the police continues
First report from Saturday, January 14:
Lützerath – Thousands of demonstrators are expected on Saturday near the lignite mining town of Lützerath against the clearing of the settlement.
The police have been clearing the place since Wednesday (January 11).
According to an alliance of environmental organizations and climate policy initiatives, more than ten thousand participants are expected.
The protest march first leads through the town of Keyenberg, which, like Lützerath, belongs to the town of Erkelenz.
A final rally follows near Lützerath.
Specifically, the alliance is calling for an evacuation stop to prevent the planned excavation of the lignite under Lützerath by the energy company RWE.
Thunberg and Neubauer expected in Lützerath
The initiatives All Villages Remain, Fridays for Future and the BUND are involved in the demonstration.
The climate activists Greta Thunberg and Luisa Neubauer are also expected to take part in the protest.
Two activists are also trapped in a tunnel four meters below a ramshackle house.
The protesters call themselves "Pinky" and "Brain".
The oxygen supply is guaranteed via a hose that extends into the underground hiding place.
Since, according to Aachen police chief Dirk Weinspach, there is a risk of death, it is still unclear when the activists can be evacuated from the tunnel, which is not considered safe.
Lützerath: Activists are still blocking tunnels
According to the "Aktionsticker Lützerath" of the activists on Twitter, there is an acute "risk of the tunnel collapsing" due to the felling and clearing of tree houses by the police in Lützerath.
The already cleared tree houses, which the police let fall down, can therefore be felt in the tunnel.
(chw/mse/afp)
