Police Clash with Climate Activists over German Mining Town... Thunberg Also Scheduled to Visit

German Police Enforce Demolition in Ryucherat Village
Ongoing Controversy Over Underground Coal Mining in the Village

On the 11th (local time), German police and the mining company RWE carried out a demolition operation in the village of L?tzerath in western Germany. L?tzerath = Reuters·Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] German police clashed with climate activists around the small mining village of L?tzerath in western Germany. While German authorities are demolishing the village and attempting to mine the coal buried underground to resolve the energy crisis, climate activists oppose the use of coal, leading to ongoing conflicts between the two sides.

According to German local media such as S?ddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) on the 11th (local time), German police forcibly carried out the demolition operation in L?tzerath village and clashed with climate activists occupying the village. About 200 climate activists, who have been occupying the village for two years, opposed the demolition by throwing empty bottles, stones, fireworks, and Molotov cocktails at the police but were suppressed by the police.

German police stated that the situation in L?tzerath village has stabilized again. According to the German police, 200 climate activists voluntarily withdrew from the site that day. The police blocked off the area to prevent unauthorized access, began erecting a 1.5 km-long fence around the region where lignite is buried, and also removed the L?tzerath village sign.

On the 11th (local time), climate activists opposing the demolition of L?tzerath set off fireworks in resistance to the police. L?tzerath=Reuters·Yonhap News

The reason climate activists clashed with German police is the coal buried underground in L?tzerath village. The German government is attempting to mine the coal buried here as one of the measures to resolve the energy crisis and power shortage that deepened after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Accordingly, all residents of L?tzerath village were relocated by October last year, and the local mining company RWE purchased all the land in the village and planned to start coal mining after demolishing the village.

Upon hearing this news, climate activists from around the world gathered in L?tzerath village, occupied the area, and protested against the German authorities' demolition. They criticize the German government, which had announced eco-friendly policies to stop fossil fuel use, for acting hypocritically by mining coal due to the energy crisis.

Climate activists occupying the village of L?cherrath in Germany are being dispersed by German police. L?cherrath=Reuters·Yonhap News

The German government anticipated the controversy and set the coal phase-out target for North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), where L?tzerath is located, to 2030, eight years earlier than the whole of Germany. The nearby Garzweiler coal mine was also allowed to be used for power generation by mining the remaining underground coal after demolishing the village instead of early closure.

Meanwhile, Greta Thunberg (19), the world-renowned environmental activist from Sweden, is scheduled to visit L?tzerath on the 14th to participate in the protest, raising concerns that the climate activists' demonstrations will intensify. Thunberg also visited L?tzerath in September 2021 to oppose coal mining and participated in protests urging adherence to the 1.5-degree Celsius limit on global temperature rise mentioned in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.