Resistance is growing in the notorious German ‘lignite village’ Lützerath, where, according to the police of nearby Aachen, more than 2,000 activists are now present. More activists from different countries are on their way to the village, about an hour and fifteen minutes drive from Hasselt. Lützerath must disappear to make way for lignite mining.
The residents have long since left, but the ‘ghost village’ of Lützerath has been occupied and inhabited by activists for more than two years to prevent energy company RWE from wiping the village off the face of the earth in order to extract lignite. RWE’s enormous lignite machine is currently already digging meters from the edge of the village.
The activists have erected barricades and are now building many more. After all, the government of the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia has made preparations to evict the demonstrators and clear the site, starting tomorrow. A large number of police officers would be deployed for this.
More and more activists report, confrontations with police
After the announcement that the village will be evacuated from tomorrow, the number of people who want to oppose it grew considerably. In recent days, numerous activists have joined the group that has been occupying the village for months. It also led to minor confrontations with the police.
Lützerath has become an important symbol file in the struggle of climate activists. The downright apocalyptic images of the gigantic monster machines tossing and turning in the brown, gray mining plain next to the small village play a major role in this.
(Read more below the photos)
“Strength of this place underestimated”
The climate activists held a demonstration through the village and at the mine yesterday, in which Germany’s leading climate activist Luisa Neubauer also took part, reports the ‘Rheinische Post’. According to her, the politicians had not expected so much resistance to the demolition of the village. “You notice that the power of this place was apparently underestimated,” she said, among other things.
The activists come from far and wide, including by bus. In Hamburg, the police stopped a bus with fifty activists in the night from Saturday to Sunday for a thorough check. After a three-hour delay, the activists were able to continue their journey to the village.
Up to 2,000 agents deployed
The police say they are deploying up to 2,000 officers for the planned evacuation of the village. The German magazine ‘Der Spiegel’ reported yesterday that agents from all over Germany are being sent to Lützerath. The police will use, among other things, water cannons, dogs and horses.
Read also: IN PICTURE. Tense battle around notoriously occupied German ‘lignite village’ Lützerath: activists fervently resist eviction, immense machines continue to dig
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