Thunberg joins march on German village to protest colliery expansion

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LUTZERATH (RockedBuzz via Reuters) – About 6,000 protesters – including climate activist Greta Thunberg – marched on the German village of Luetzerath in the mud and rain on Saturday, demonstrating against the expansion of a coal mine, according to a police estimate. open pit lignite.

The clearing of the village in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia was agreed between RWE and the government in a deal that allowed the energy giant to demolish Lutzerath in exchange for it getting out of coal faster and saving five villages originally set for destruction.

“This is a betrayal of present and future generations… Germany is one of the biggest polluters in the world and must be held accountable,” Thunberg said at a podium, after marching with a cardboard sign reading in German “Luetzi remains”, using a shortened village name.

As the protesters approached the village, they were confronted by riot police and some used batons to push the protesters back.

The regional police said on Twitter that they used force to prevent people from breaking through the barriers and approaching the danger zone on the edge of the excavation area.

Earlier this week, police cleared protesters from the buildings they have occupied for nearly two years in a bid to halt the expansion of the nearby mine.

Only a few remained camped out in tree houses and an underground tunnel on Saturday, but thousands turned out to protest the mine, which activists say symbolizes Berlin’s failed climate policy.

The president of North Rhine-Westphalia told German radio Deutschlandfunk on Saturday that energy policy “is not always pretty” but that coal is needed more than ever in light of the energy crisis facing Europe’s largest economy.

Former Economy Minister Robert Habeck told Spiegel on Friday that Lutzerath was the “wrong symbol” to protest against.

“It’s the last place where lignite will be mined. Not a symbol for more of the same thing, but for the final frontier.”

But activists said Germany should stop mining more lignite and instead focus on expanding renewable energy.

(Reporting by Petra Wischgoll, Andreas Kranz, Andreas Buerger and Max Schwarz; Additional reporting by Anneli Palmen and Victoria Waldersee; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)

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