Greta Thunberg arrested while supporting coal protests in Germany

The demolition of the German village of Lützerath to clear the way for a coalmine has infuriated climate activists. The prominent Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has been participating in the protests, calling the German government's actions in expanding the coal mine a "betrayal", according to The Independent. On January 17, Thunberg drew the world's attention to the situation when the German police detained her.

Greta Thunberg's presence at the protests has brought attention to the thousands of individuals who object to the destruction of the centuries-old village in order to make room for the expansion of the Garzweiler coal mine resulting in the displacement of hundreds of residents

Greta joined the protestors on Friday, January 13. Riot police and bulldozers attempted to remove the activists on Friday.

According to The Independent, on Saturday, January 14, Thunberg spoke to roughly 6,000 protesters as they marched towards Lutzerath. Greta said that the expansion of the mine was a "betrayal of present and future generations."

Then the Swede said, "Germany is one of the biggest polluters in the world and needs to be held accountable," she said.

Despite the police force's attempts to remove the protestors on January 13, many remained to stage a sit-in on Tuesday, January 17, including the young Swedish activist.

During the demonstration, some activists walked toward the Garzweiler opencast mine. The German police state that they used pepper spray and batons to keep them away from the edge.

According to the German police, they resorted to force to remove the protestors from this area as the activists' behavior was dangerous. The risk of slipping on the muddy ground near the open mine was high. A police spokesman told the German newspaper SZ: "Of course, my colleagues hoped to stop those who were walking in the direction of the edge."

Police officers then surrounded a group of activists at the edge of the open mine, including Greta Thunberg. When the activists did not follow the request to leave, the police intervened and carried Greta Thunberg away.

According to The Guardian, a spokesperson for Aachen police said: "Greta Thunberg was part of a group of activists who rushed towards the ledge. However, she was then stopped and carried by us with this group out of the immediate danger area to establish their identity."

According to German newspaper SZ, when asked whether she had already been treated like this in other countries, Greta Thunberg simply gave a cheeky smile.

The village of Lützerath will soon be gone so the Garzweiler opencast mine can expand. According to the energy company RWE, responsible for the lignite mining, the eviction is over. And the "dismantling" of Lützerath will be completed "in the coming days".

Lützerath has become a symbol of the fight to move away from fossil fuels amid an energy crisis.

'Pinky' and 'Brain' (pictured), two activists who had waited in a tunnel for days to delay the eviction, left Lützerath voluntarily on Monday January 16, 2023.

They caused a stir when they published video material from a self-built tunnel on social media via the 'Lützerath Leben' action alliance. The fire brigade and special units from the Technical Relief Agency were requested to get the two men out of the tunnel.

At the same time, on Saturday, January 14th, a large demonstration against the evacuation of Lützerath took place, resulting in injuries on both sides and mutual recriminations.

"Around 100 people were injured," says Florian Özcan, one of the spokesmen for the action alliance 'Lützerath Leben.' Police reported 70 injured officers. According to the organizers, 35,000 people protested, however, the police spoke of around 15,000 participants.

The German Union of Journalists (DJU) has criticized the freedom of the press saying,  draws  "At times, during ongoing police measures, press representatives had no access to the halls and a barn in the village, where, according to the information available, there were allegedly physical injuries in office and dangerous behavior by the police towards protesters during the eviction."

Greta Thunberg wasn't the only internationally recognized climate activist. Luisa Neubauer (left in the picture) was also there with her.

Luisa Neubauer , a Hamburg native made a name for herself as the main organizer of 'Fridays for Future' in Germany. Here we see the moment when the police carried away Luisa Neubauer during the protests.

The police operation against climate activists and opponents of coal in Lützerath began on Wednesday, January 11, 2023. Wooden huts, tree houses and barricades were demolished by excavators. Some activists had chained, glued or cemented themselves to objects in the hope of detaining the demolition.

Their goal of the protestors is to prevent the mining of lignite (a soft brown coal) under Lützerath, and they warn of serious consequences for the climate from coal burning. Environmentalists have been living in Lützerath for about two years. Now they are supposed to finally make way for coal mining.

NGOs such as Greenpeace have supported the protests. They are of the opinion that Germany has sufficient capacity for generating energy and does not need the coal under Lützerath.

Olaf Bandt, the chairman of the German NGO Bund, said in a statement to the press: "There is no energy policy necessity to dig up the coal under Lützerath. It sends a fatal signal if the digging up of Lützerath is nevertheless made possible with a large police operation. The evacuation must be stopped immediately!"

BUND explains on its website: "Lützerath and its recalcitrant residents block the RWE excavators' way to the western extension of the Garzweiler opencast mine. If RWE and the state government have their way, 280 million tons of lignite are to be mined there by 2030, much more than the climate can tolerate."

Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck from the Greens argued with the gas crisis and defended the decision in an interview with the German publication ZDF as follows: "Lützerath is not the 'business as usual' of the energy policy of the past. It is the bottom line."

The North Rhine-Westphalian state government of CDU and Greens has approved the demolition and expansion of the coal mine, but at the same time announced an accelerated phase-out of coal-fired power generation in North Rhine-Westphalia from 2038 to 2030.

In the spring of 2022, RWE, the energy company that owns the Garzweiler opencast mine, enforced in court that the remains of Lützerath could be leveled. In the picture demonstrators on April 23, 2022 against the ruling. Protestors argue that Garzweiler supplies the nearby coal-fired power plant Neurath, which according to data from 2020 is the second largest CO2 emitter in Europe.

Farmer Eckardt Heukamp (pictured) was the last inhabitant of Lützerath. In March 2022, a district court ruled that Heukamp had to move out due to the expansion of the coal mine. The ruling states that RWE, the operator, had the right to expropriate Heukamp's property in exchange for compensation. Like all of Lützerath, he also had to make way for more coal mining.