The eviction of thousands of environmentalists who try to prevent the expansion of a coal mine begins

Thousands of environmental activists try to resist in the German town of Lützerath. Its objective, to prevent the expansion of a lignite mine in the open air. The police have surrounded them this Wednesday and ask that they stop throwing Molotov cocktails, stones and fireworks at them, and that they leave peacefully. About 200 have already done so.

from tree to tree

Some avoid the agents by swinging from tree to tree above them using ropes. On the ground, others have chained themselves to a concrete barrel.

This town, in the west of the country, has become a whole symbol of the fight against fossil fuels. The German energy consortium RWE, which owns the site, plans to demolish it to expand the giant Garzweiler mine.

long evacuation

The evacuation of Lützerath, which had about a hundred inhabitants, began in 2006 and was completed last year. No one, therefore, currently lives there.

The company is building a metal barrier around its perimeter. Law enforcement officials estimate that it could take weeks to evict all the environmentalists.

The German government’s plans were for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia to abandon coal permanently by 2030. But the energy crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine has complicated this.

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