A small town in western Germany became the literal stage of the fight against climate change on Wednesday (11), when hundreds of activists clashed with police in an attempt to prevent it from becoming a coal mine.
Lützerath, located in the province of North Rhine-Westphalia, began to attract the attention of environmentalists about two years ago, when rumors emerged that the site would be destroyed to allow the exploitation of lignite, a lower form of the fossil mineral called ” brown coal” in German.
Last October, the government announced that the area had been sold to RWE, the country’s largest energy company. The state justification was that it needed fossil fuel to compensate for the lack of Russian gas in the midst of the energy crisis caused by the Ukrainian War – researchers dispute the claim. This Tuesday (10), by orders of a local court, the evacuation of the city officially began.
The decision represented a radical shift for a administration that had promised to end coal burning by 2030 — and a major blow to environmentalists, who say they are willing to risk their lives to prevent the land from becoming a mine.
According to them, burning the lignite deposit stored under Lützerath makes it virtually impossible for Germany to comply with the carbon emission reduction provisions of the Paris Agreement.
To prevent the police from reaching them, protesters climbed onto the roofs and windows of abandoned buildings and balanced on cables, poles and triangle-shaped bamboo structures. With their faces hidden by masks and balaclavas — some of them were still wearing sanitary protection overalls — they hurled stones, bottles, explosives and gasoline bombs at the officers. Meanwhile, they sang: “we are here / and we speak loudly / because you are stealing our future”.
Activist Greta Thunberg said she will join the activists this Saturday (14).
Police say it could be weeks before she is able to evacuate the area. Water cannons were brought to the scene but were not used. Reuters news agency did, however, see forces using heavy machinery to dismantle barricades erected by environmentalists.
Meanwhile, RWE, which owns the land, called in a statement for the protesters to end the occupation peacefully and said it had begun building a fence around the area.
The project symbolizes Germany’s dilemma regarding the environmental agenda, an area that has seen a series of setbacks since the energy crisis provoked by the War in Ukraine forced the European country, extremely dependent on Russian gas, to resume production of “dirty” fuels such as the coal.
Lützerath’s case is particularly sensitive for the Green Party, which has returned to power after 16 years in opposition by joining Prime Minister Olaf Scholz’s coalition government.
Many members of the acronym are opposed to the mine, but the Minister of Economy, Robert Habeck, has served as a poster boy for the government’s decision. The minister, who asked both the police and the demonstrators not to use force, said the small town without inhabitants “is a mistaken symbol”.
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