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Cottbus (dpa / bb) - About 20 environmentalists from the “All villages remain” alliance demonstrated at a rally in the city center of Cottbus on Saturday.
The background to the protest are the appeal processes in Cottbus against three open-cast mine occupiers, which begin on May 4th.
The event, which lasted until the early evening, went without incident, according to the police.
Initially, the alliance had registered hundreds of participants. Due to the corona pandemic and the current containment ordinance, the number of people was limited to 20 participants. The right of assembly is very important, said police spokesman Maik Kettlitz. The jurisprudence states that with a corresponding hygiene concept and under strict conditions, an exemption can be granted if the applicant adheres to all conditions.
In protest against coal-fired power generation, 23 activists occupied the Welzow-Süd and Jänschwalde opencast mines in 2019.
After about three weeks of pre-trial detention, three opencast mine squatters were sentenced in the first instance for trespassing to two months' imprisonment without parole.
In this context, the environmentalists accuse the authorities of harassment in police custody.
According to a statement from the alliance, those affected reported being beaten and kicked and the police refused to give medical help.
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At the same time, the demonstrators wanted to draw attention to the water crisis in Lusatia, which was caused by coal mining.
"It is all of our groundwater that the Leag literally digs up for us here in Lusatia," said the alliance's spokeswoman, Vanja Köster.
Anyone who wants to continue burning coal in the 21st century will further exacerbate the problem of global warming and droughts.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210424-99-338364 / 2