Hundreds of police face-off with coal mine protesters barricaded in abandoned German village
- Hundreds of officers moved in as activists formed human chains, perched on roofs or windows of buildings and threw rocks, bottles and petrol bombs
- The demonstrators are protesting after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted the German government to change course on its environmental policies
Hundreds of police began clearing climate protesters out of an abandoned village on Wednesday in a showdown over the expansion of an opencast lignite mine that has highlighted tensions around Germany’s climate policy during an energy crisis.
The protesters formed human chains, made a makeshift barricade out of old containers and chanted “we are here, we are loud, because you are stealing our future” as police in helmets moved in. Some threw rocks, bottles and pyrotechnics. Police also reported protesters were throwing petrol bombs.
The demonstrators, wearing masks, balaclavas or biosuits, have been protesting against the Garzweiler mine, run by energy firm RWE in the village of Luetzerath in the brown-coal district of the Western state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Economy Minister Robert Habeck of the Greens called for no further violence after police and protesters scuffled. “Leave it at that – from both sides,” he told reporters.
Police say the stand-off could take weeks to resolve.
As the officers moved in, some activists perched on the roofs or the windows of the abandoned buildings, chanting and shouting slogans.
Others hung suspended from wires and wooden frames, or were holed up in tree houses to make it harder for police to dislodge them after a court ruling allowed for the demolition of the village now otherwise empty of residents and owned by RWE.
