Climate protests continue – excavators busy

In the open-pit mine Hambach, about 20 kilometers away, a wheeled excavator has been occupied since the early hours of the morning, a spokesman for the energy company RWE reported on Monday. In addition, climate activists in wheelchairs abseiled from a highway bridge near Lützerath.

The excavator in the Rhenish lignite mining area, located in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, has stopped working, an RWE spokesperson said. There are a total of four people on the excavator. The police have been notified. According to the protest group “Counterattack – for the good life”, eight activists occupied the excavator. With the action you want to show solidarity with the people in the village of Lützerath. The group also criticized the police’s actions there and called for socialization of energy production.

In Lützerath itself, two demonstrators were still standing in a tunnel on Monday morning, an RWE spokesman said. You are in contact with them. Meanwhile, dismantling continues and is already “well advanced”. After the village has been completely demolished, RWE wants to dig out the coal underneath. According to a spokesman, this could start as early as March or April.

On Saturday, thousands of people, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, demonstrated in Lützerath and the surrounding area against the evacuation of Lützerath and in general against the climate and energy policies of the state and federal governments. There were clashes with police on the margins of the protests. North Rhine-Westphalia’s interior minister Herbert Reul defended the police against allegations of excessive force. She worked “very professionally,” Reul said on the ARD talk show “Anne Will” on Sunday night. Officers used batons and water cannons, among other things, and some were on horseback.

Germany is under enormous pressure to develop new energy sources simply because of the final phase-out of nuclear energy now scheduled for mid-April.

(SDA)