Germany: the eviction of anti-coal activists in Lützerath has begun
Lützerath, January 11, 2023. REUTERS - CHRISTIAN MANG
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
Lützerath, a village located near Cologne, is called upon to be wiped off the map to allow the extension of coal production in order to meet the energy needs generated precisely by the war in Ukraine.
Environmental activists from Lützerath have occupied it for many years.
The case was the subject of a compromise negotiated by the government, which in return undertakes to put an end to coal mining in the Rhineland, eight years earlier than planned.
On January 11, the police began the eviction of the activists.
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From our special correspondent in Lützerath,
Stefanie Schüler
The situation does not seem to have changed much since the early hours of the morning here, when several thousand police officers from all over Germany deployed around and in the village of Lützerath where activists and environmentalists barricaded themselves.
The activists say there are around 1,000, the police estimate their number at 300.
The police began this morning the eviction of environmental activists in #Lützerath village doomed to disappear for the extension of an open-pit coal mine @RFI pic.twitter.com/Fyd5QYqxwY
— Stefanie Schuler (@SchulerStefanie) January 11, 2023
The security forces are installing barriers around the hamlet which should prevent the activists from receiving reinforcements.
The police have assured that anyone who wishes to leave the village can do so, without being prosecuted.
The general impression is above all that the police are acting with great caution and with great restraint too.
►Also read:
Germany: the noose is tightening around anti-coal activists in Lützerath
Avoid a media disaster
Several dozen activists have certainly already been taken away by the police, but there is clearly a desire to avoid at all costs that the evacuation of Lützerath turns into a media disaster with images of violence, because 750 journalists from around the world whole are indeed on the spot.
The activists say they are determined to resist as long as possible, the vast majority of them are doing so peacefully for the moment and a young man perched on a mast seven meters high in the pouring rain and in the wind said earlier: "
I'd rather read a warm book, you know, but the climate emergency is such that we can no longer allow the slightest extension of a coal mine here or elsewhere
".
Activists in #Lützerath are mounted on monopods to slow the advance of law enforcement.
Special units will have to look for them using @RFI cranes pic.twitter.com/peQKM8DkuB
— Stefanie Schuler (@SchulerStefanie) January 11, 2023
►Also listen: Germany: the ZAD of Lützerath, a village symbol of the fight against fossil fuels
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