German police are due to begin the eviction of environmental activists from Lützerath on Wednesday. This small hamlet between Aix-la-Chapelle and Cologne is doomed to disappear so that the energy group RWE can extract coal there. In the midst of a climate emergency, this decision aroused strong reactions. The last inhabitants left the village several years ago. But now Lützerath is occupied by more than a thousand militants who will not leave of their own free will.
Perched on a basket, helmeted police lower environmental activists hoisted on a tripod: preparations for the evacuation of the Lützerath camp in Germany, coal opposition symbol and fossil fuels, have begun.
After the checkpoint held by the security forces, it is impossible to drive to the former village occupied by activists, located two kilometers away, on the edge of a gigantic open-pit lignite mine.
The main access road to Lützerath was on Tuesday at the heart of a face-off between anti-coal activists and police who are preparing to dislodge the occupants, a technically delicate and politically very sensitive operation.
They can be maintained, and will be able to for a long time even if Lützerath is now sealed off, because for months massive donations of food, drinking water and equipment have been arriving on site. These donations come from famous climate activists as well as from the inhabitants of the surrounding villages who say: it’s great what you are doing here! It is important for us and our grandchildren. There are many very brave and determined people in Lützerath, who will not leave of their own free will, but will try to save this place through passive resistance. The police, meanwhile, are pressed for time. The evacuation must be completed by mid-February. At that time the carnival will begin, and the police will be called upon elsewhere. This schedule constraint is very dangerous. I would have liked to avoid these tensions. In 2023 they should no longer be relevant. They are vain
Michael Zobel, local forest guide and climate advocate
The former village in the Rhine basin, located about forty kilometers from Düsseldorf (west), and whose inhabitants were expropriated several years ago, is protected by a wall of barricades, chicanes and trenches that militants continue to dig quickly with pickaxes.
The police managed to dismantle several roadblocks, including wooden tripods several meters high on which opponents had climbed, the latter said. “Day X”, as these anti-coal activists refer to the police evacuation operation, has arrived. A ramp-up of the intervention is expected from Wednesday. The police said this Tuesday evening prepare “ one of the most demanding and risky operations in recent years “.
We are dealing with occupied buildings, constructions both in the trees and on the ground that were erected in several months. There are also barricades which are currently further reinforced in the village. Occupied buildings are a big challenge for us, because we don’t know what will be waiting for us inside. And the poles from a great height too, from which we must bring down activists without putting their lives and those of our policemen in danger. During the eviction of Lützerath, occupations of the open pit mine, thermal power plants and transport routes by activists are also possible. The militants have already announced that they want to occupy us throughout the region in order to divert police units from Lützerath. We are prepared for it.
Police Chief Wilhelm Sauer, who will lead the intervention
Hundreds of activists arriving as reinforcements from all over Germany and Europe have joined the historical occupants of the camp who want to prevent the German energy group RWE, owner of the place, from destroying what remains of the village to expand the lignite mine. .
With AFP