The German news agency DPA says that on Tuesday, police in western Germany carried Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and other protesters away from the edge of an open coal pit mine, protesting the destruction of a village, to make room for the mine’s expansion.
Hundreds of people went back to anti-mining protests in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Hundreds of climate activists also glued themselves to a main street in Germany’s western city of Cologne and a state government building in Duesseldorf. Police and RWE say that about 120 activists took over the train tracks near Rommerskirchen that lead to the Neurath power plant. Greta.
Greta Clashes With Police
According to DPA, those who refused to leave the tracks were dragged away.
Several protesters also took over a big digger at the Inden coal mine, and hundreds of others joined a protest march near Luetzerath. The village has been evacuated and sealed off by police in recent days.
There were clashes with the police once more.
According to DPA, several activists ran over to the Garzweiler open pit mine. They were standing on the edge of the open pit, which had a sharp break-off edge. The police said it was dangerous, and people were not allowed to stay there.
Protestors Arrested Near Mines Edge
Greta Thunberg went to western Germany to join protests over the weekend and on Tuesday near Luetzerath against the expanded mine. According to police in nearby Aachen, a group of 50 protesters got dangerously close to the mine’s rim and refused to leave despite being asked to do so.
According to police, all the people arrested at the mine’s edge were then temporarily detained to determine their identities. Thunberg was one of those arrested, according to photos from the scene. Greta.
RWE says that one protester could go into the mine, which DPA calls “very reckless.”
Luetzerath Is A Symbol
Due to privacy laws, a police spokesman who spoke on the condition of anonymity, as is common in Germany, said he couldn’t say anything about Thunberg or anyone else who participated in the protest.
On January 11, police and RWE started getting protesters out of Luetzerath by taking down roadblocks, cutting down treehouses, and bulldozing buildings.
For years, activists have talked about how important Luetzerath is as a symbol, and on Saturday, thousands of people protested against RWE’s plan to destroy the village so that the Garzweiler coal mine could grow.
SOURCE – (AP)
