Massive forces began on Wednesday to clear the occupied lignite village of Lützerath in North Rhine-Westphalia. Officers entered the village occupied by climate activists, which has become a symbol of the anti-coal movement. According to the police, stones and Molotov cocktails were thrown in the direction of the officers. The emergency services cordoned off the entire area, no one can get in without authorization. Because of the massive resistance of some demonstrators, the operation remains very difficult, said Andreas Müller from the Aachen police: “Well, there are big challenges for the police. And we need a lot of special forces here to solve this situation. We have rescuers on duty, “We have heavy technical equipment here on site to remove the barricades. These are all factors that make it quite difficult to predict how long the operation here will take. In any case, we have prepared for a multi-week operation.” According to police estimates, around 300 to 400 activists are on site. From her circle it was said that one was determined to stay in Lützerath and to protect the trees and buildings. “Yes, of course we now hope that the people will follow the request to leave the site now. Some will comply, others can be carried away peacefully. As long as it stays within this framework, we have no problem with that. But we can of course only appeal to remain peaceful and not to throw stones at the officers here.” The energy giant RWE wants to have Lützerath demolished in order to be able to excavate the lignite beneath the village. The background to the eviction is a plan presented last October by Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck, NRW Economics Minister Mona Neubaur and RWE boss Markus Krebber, according to which the exit from climate-damaging coal energy in NRW is to take place as early as 2030, eight years earlier than originally planned. In the short term, however, more coal is to be excavated in view of the energy crisis in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Lützerath had to give way to cover the demand, it was said. At the green base, the plans are controversial.
Source: Stern
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