Squatters in tunnels make it difficult to clear Lützerath

“We don’t know how stable these subterranean soil structures are and how the air supply is there,” said Aachen police chief Dirk Weinspach. The situation is correspondingly dangerous. Overall, he was satisfied with the progress of the mission. The night passed quietly.

The climate activists held out in heavy rain, strong winds and temperatures below ten degrees. The police initially did not clear further. There were still numerous police officers on site. According to a police spokesman, however, they only wanted to become active at night when activists had to be freed from potentially dangerous situations. The Technical Relief Agency also ended its mission that night without getting the activists out of the tunnel.

Picture gallery: Climate activists occupy the coal village of Lützerath – the police clear the area

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The occupiers of the place, which is to make way for lignite mining, reported on Thursday on social networks about a tunnel and warned the police not to drive into the area with heavy equipment. The police confirmed that there are at least two tunnels. However, there are only activists in one. So far the police have not been able to get hold of them.

The last house will be cleared on Friday

Special forces from RWE and the Federal Agency for Technical Relief would now have to take care of “how the rescue can be carried out in a suitable manner,” said Weinspach on Thursday evening on WDR. “It will also be important to proceed very carefully and not take any risks.” The extent to which the clearance of the site could be delayed as a result cannot be foreseen. “The clearance of the above-ground structures is largely complete,” he emphasized. “We have cleared almost all the houses except for one. The meadow has been cleared, most of the tree houses have been cleared. In this respect, there is not much left.” The last occupied house will be vacated by the police on Friday.

On Thursday, numerous wooden huts and barricades belonging to the activists were razed to the ground by excavators. During the evacuation, the squatters usually allowed themselves to be carried away without much resistance. Some were close to tears. Two symbolic houses of the former residents of Lützerath were also cleared. There, fireworks flew in the direction of the emergency services, as a dpa reporter reported. One officer was slightly injured, according to police. However, the old houses in the village have not yet been demolished.

Even from the tree houses erected at a height of up to ten meters, squatters could be brought down by rescuers without much resistance. Police officers then cut the tethers so that tree houses crashed down and broke into many pieces, as a dpa reporter reported.

During the night of Friday, the evacuation initially continued in the dark. “Objects that have been addressed are still being processed,” said a police spokesman. Activists who had cemented themselves in or chained themselves were also freed despite the darkness. “In such cases we have to provide help,” said the spokesman.

RWE wants to mine the lignite that lies beneath the village of Lützerath, which has long since been abandoned by the residents. The coal is needed to save gas for power generation in Germany during the energy crisis, the group argues. The activists deny that. In exchange for the fact that politicians paved the way for the mining of lignite under Lützerath, the coal phase-out in NRW was brought forward by eight years to 2030.

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