The energy company RWE recently announced that it would demand compensation from demonstrators.
Now the activists are countering.
Erkelenz – The analogy just came to mind: David versus Goliath – the little climate activist versus the energy giant RWE.
In the end, Goliath prevailed, Lützerath was cleared and demolished.
And now he wants money from David too.
Lützerath activists occupied lignite excavators
RWE has announced civil legal action against demonstrators and is demanding damages.
Activists had occupied the lignite village of Lützerath at the Garzweiler II opencast mine for months to save it from demolition.
The evacuation by the police began in mid-January.
Meanwhile and afterwards, demonstrators paralyzed rails of the railway and occupied a lignite excavator in the Inden opencast mine.
"Of course, all disrupters have to reckon with a claim for damages," said company spokesman Guido Steffen to the
Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung
.
According to the energy company, there was considerable property damage, including to the group's vehicles and systems.
In addition, several wells and switchgear were destroyed.
And there had already been fires near Lützerath at the opencast mine beforehand - the cause is still unclear to this day.
RWE wants compensation from demonstrators
It is not yet possible to quantify how high the demand should be.
A final damage assessment is not yet available.
Now the activists are countering - and in turn are demanding damages from RWE, reports 24RHEIN.
"The Lützerath Leben initiative calls on RWE to finally pay for the damage that the group has caused over decades of climate destruction," says a statement.
"Rubbish contaminated with asbestos": Lützerath activists also want compensation
It is "hardly absurd that the RWE Group, which is destroying villages, biodiversity and our global livelihoods," is now demanding compensation from activists "who are trying to preserve the same," said Milena Steinegger, spokeswoman for the initiative.
The activists mention the Peruvian farmer Saul Luciano Lliuya, who became internationally known because he sued RWE in 2015: The group was complicit in the negative consequences of climate change in his homeland.
In addition, it should be checked “with regard to compensation” whether the “debris, some of which was contaminated with asbestos, was properly disposed of” during the clearance.
It is unclear whether the eviction and demolition caused “the toxic dust to cause long-term health damage” to the squatters and workers.
Meanwhile, the mood of some residents in the villages around Lützerath is changing: activists left garbage in Keyenberg, for example, where there was a protest camp.
(pen)
