DOn Saturday, the police forcefully pushed back climate demonstrators near Lützerath who were trying to get to the edge of the open-cast lignite mine. A police spokesman confirmed this. He cannot yet say anything about injuries or arrests because the operation is ongoing. Walking to the edge of the mine is life-threatening because the ground has softened due to constant rain and there is a risk of landslides.
The police spokesman said violent protesters also attacked police patrol cars and threw pyrotechnics at officers. Demonstrators also tried to get into the sealed-off Lützerath, but so far they have not been able to.
“We have our backs to the fence. The water cannons are behind us. The threat was made that the water cannons would be used. Now we have to wait and see what happens.” said a police spokesman for the German press agency. The demonstrators are still getting more crowds. “We are already using direct force when people go in that direction.” A little later, the dpa reported that the police had used water cannons just before Lützerath.
On the fringes of the demonstration near Lützerath, the police also used pepper spray and batons. So-called multi-purpose sticks were used against hooded people who tried to break through a police line, a spokesman said on Saturday. Pepper spray was also used. According to the Aachen police, there were also injuries in the clashes, but he could not say anything about their number.
The police estimated the number of participants at 8,000 to 10,000, the organizers spoke of 35,000. The Aachen police did not announce how many emergency services were on site on Saturday evening. The participants protest against the fact that Lützerath, a district of Erkelenz, is being demolished so that the energy company RWE can excavate the coal underneath.
The demonstrators moved from the neighboring village of Keyenberg to the level of the local area, which has been cleared by the police since Wednesday because of the upcoming excavation. After the meeting was initially largely peaceful, according to a police spokesman, pyrotechnics were fired at officials in the afternoon.
The climate activist Greta Thunberg at the demonstration near Lützerath
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Image: Reuters
The Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg called for the preservation of Lützerath at the demonstration and called for further protests and resistance. “As long as the coal is in the ground, this fight is not over,” she said in a speech at the end of the rally on Saturday. “We have no intention of giving up.”
Thunberg called it “a disgrace” that Germany, despite the climate crisis, continues to sign contracts with energy companies like RWE that would mine and burn coal. The Swede praised the large number of participants at the demo as a “sign of hope”. The response shows that the changes in climate and environmental policy are not being achieved “by the so-called decision-makers” in politics and business, but by the “people who are in tree houses, who are here on the street”.
Clashes between activists and the police on Saturday near Lützerath
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Image: AFP
On Saturday morning, the police continued to clear the town of Lützerath, which was occupied by climate protection activists and is to be demolished for lignite mining. “The work continues,” said a police spokesman. Emergency services climbed trees on which people persevered. An activist was later brought down.