The clearing of the protest village of Lützerath could begin on Wednesday. The police removed barricades on Tuesday. Activists resisted with all their might.
On Tuesday, the police cleared away the first barricades on the access road to the Rhenish protest village of Lützerath at the opencast lignite mine. The clearing of the place occupied by climate activists itself will not take place on Tuesday, the police emphasized. This is expected from Wednesday. The appeal went out over loudspeakers: “Do not attack the police forces!” This could make you liable to prosecution.
When the police attempted to break up blockades, there were isolated cases of physical violence. In several rows, activists braced themselves against the emergency services, people pushed and shouted. An activist with blood on his face said he injured his nose while being carried away from his sit-in. The police used a lifting platform to get two activists down from a so-called monopod, a kind of high seat.
“The police have now advanced massively and pressed massively,” said Johanna Inkermann from the “Lützerath Lives” initiative. “But we won’t let ourselves be pushed away. It’s an extremely dynamic situation.”
In the morning, around 300 activists had formed human chains in a confusing formation and set up a sit-in blockade, in which some of those involved had dug themselves about half a meter deep into the ground. “It’s about blocking the access to Lützi,” said an activist.
The sound gets rougher
Among other things, the activists shouted “Get lost!”, “Shame on you!”, “On the barricades!” and “Protecting the climate is not a crime!”. The tone towards the police was sometimes aggressive, the atmosphere heated. Most activists were masked. Some spoke English, others French, Italian or Dutch.
The energy company RWE wants to excavate the coal lying under Lützerath – for this purpose the hamlet in the area of the city of Erkelenz is to be demolished. Since this Tuesday, the police have been able to clear the village due to a general decree from the Heinsberg district. However, the Heinsberg District Administrator Stephan Pusch (CDU) initially wanted to provide information about the eviction and the associated police operation in the afternoon.
Left leader Janine Wissler expressed support for the activists in Lützerath. “It’s so absurd what’s happening here. What a lot of money, what an effort to dig out coal in 2023, which according to studies is no longer needed,” said the member of the Bundestag of the German Press Agency. She is on site as a parliamentary observer to show solidarity with the activists. In the end, it’s all about the “profit interests of a coal company” in Lützerath.
Luisa Neubauer: Police “not particularly peaceful”
Climate activist Luisa Neubauer criticized the police strategy as not particularly peaceful. Although a peaceful evacuation had been announced by politicians, what was happening on site was “pretty much the opposite of that,” said Neubauer on Deutschlandfunk.
The responsible Aachen police chief Dirk Weinspach, on the other hand, told the television station Phoenix that he and his colleagues approached the operation professionally and were well prepared. Expect a deployment of up to four weeks. He expects a variety of forms of resistance. In addition to barricaded houses that have to be cleared, there are around 25 tree houses from which protesters have to be safely and technically difficult to get out. The police want to proceed in a de-escalating manner. However, it is clear to him that there is a small group among the protesters who are ready to use violence.
Source: Stern
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