Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was arrested by German police during a protest against coal mine expansion.
Michael Probst/AP
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Michael Probst/AP
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was arrested by German police during a protest against coal mine expansion.
Michael Probst/AP
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was detained by police on Tuesday during a protest against the expansion of a controversial coal mine in western Germany that has become the focus of controversy. about the climate of that country.
Protests at Lützerath, a small village, are expected to be cleared and demolished to make way for nearby Garzweiler coal minehas grown big and controversial in the past week. At least 15,000 people Prove on Saturday.
That includes 20-year-old Thunberg, one of the world’s most prominent climate protestors since she spoke at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2018 as a teenager.
Thunberg traveled to Germany this week to join the Lützerath protests. On Tuesday, she was among a group of protesters who were carried away by police after they approached the mine, the German news agency dpa reported. She was released soon after, according to Reuters.
The Garzweiler mine is one of three large open-pit coal mines in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Type of coal produced in the mine, lignite, responsible for about 20% of Germany’s carbon emissions.
The three mines have been expanded over the decades. Over the years, about 50 villages in the region, many centuries old, was banished and bulldozed to pave the way for the mines.
Lützerath, about 15 miles from Germany’s western border, has been the focus of protests since a court approved its demolition about a decade ago.
According to RWE, the company that operates the mine, the village was once home to about 100 residents, all of whom have been relocated since 2017. Since then, protesters have squatted in empty buildings. .
A court ruling last week cleared the way for the eviction of the encroachers and the destruction of the village. Since then, protests have grown in size and contention, with clashes between police and protesters in recent days.
Climate activists say the mine expansion will lead to more greenhouse gas emissions, which could cause Germany to miss its climate targets. Paris Agreement.
Energy has been perhaps the hottest political issue in Germany over the past two years. The country has traditionally relied on fossil fuels, but in 2019 the country committed to significantly reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. The timeline was then accelerated to 2021. , when the country’s supreme court ruled that the government must do more to cut emissions.
But after Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022 – and then cut off natural gas supplies to Europe – Germany switched to coal again. At least 20 coal-fired power plants across the country have either been restored or extended their initial closures in an effort to stay afloat through this winter.
Germany missed its climate targets for 2022, and officials have warned that it will also likely miss the 2023 targets.
In October, RWE and the German government announced an agreement to shut down the company’s coal mining operations earlier than planned in exchange for the demolition of Lützerath.
The agreement calls for RWE to close coal mines by 2030, eight years earlier than originally planned. That plan would have avoided the destruction of five other villages and three farms.
But the devastation of Lützerath, located very close to the present edge of the mine, remained “necessary for optimal use” of coal until thenRWE said.
All of which has angered climate activistswho have staged near-daily protests in recent months, including demonstrations blocking major city streets and runways at airports in Munich and Berlin.
“The company regrets that the planned demolition can only take place under substantial police protection and open-pit mine opponents are calling for illegal disruption and both crime,” RWE said in a statement last week.
