{"id":596445,"date":"2023-01-11T06:26:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-11T12:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/11\/german-coal-mine-standoff-escalates-as-police-move-on-protesters\/"},"modified":"2023-01-11T06:26:00","modified_gmt":"2023-01-11T12:26:00","slug":"german-coal-mine-standoff-escalates-as-police-move-on-protesters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/11\/german-coal-mine-standoff-escalates-as-police-move-on-protesters\/","title":{"rendered":"German coal mine standoff escalates as police move on protesters"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>In a bid to prevent the Garzweiler mine\u2019s expansion, activists say they will keep trying to defend Luetzerath village.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>German police have begun clearing climate protesters out of an abandoned village in a showdown over the expansion of a coal mine.<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday morning, officers in riot gear moved into <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/9\/21\/german-activists-weigh-climate-crisis-as-election-looms\">Luetzerath<\/a>, where hundreds of activists have been holed up trying to stop the\u00a0expansion of the nearby Garzweiler coal mine run by energy firm RWE.<\/p>\n<p>Activists have for the past two years attempted to protect the village from being bulldozed to make way for the opencast lignite mine, in a standoff that highlights the tensions around Germany\u2019s climate policy.<\/p>\n<p>Environmentalists say bulldozing Luetzerath would result in huge amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, but the government and RWE say coal is needed to ensure Germany\u2019s energy security.<\/p>\n<p>The protesters on Wednesday formed human chains, made a makeshift barricade out of old containers, and chanted \u201cWe are here, we are loud, because you are stealing our future\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Some protesters threw beer bottles at the police. Officers said Molotov cocktails and stones were also hurled at them.<\/p>\n<p>Al Jazeera\u2019s Step Vaessen, reporting from Luetzerath, said protesters were \u201cholding firm\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[Police] are in the streets, where the few houses of Luetzerath that remain are still standing,\u201d she said. \u201cVillagers left quite a while ago, but the village has been occupied for the last two years by climate activists.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"770\" height=\"434\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xX2ZPj-QQBs?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Luetzerath has become \u201can international symbol for the fight against climate change\u201d because dozens of villages have been destroyed over the years to make way for this mine, she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow Luetzerath has to go as well, that is the government\u2019s decision.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>\u2018We are here and we will stay\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Two days earlier, a regional court upheld an earlier ruling to clear the village, which is in the brown-coal district of the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia.<\/p>\n<p>RWE, the company which owns the village\u2019s land and houses, said on Wednesday it would start to demolish the remaining buildings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRWE is appealing to the squatters to observe the rule of law and to end the illegal occupation of buildings, plants and sites belonging to RWE peacefully,\u201d it said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNobody should put their own health and life at risk by participating in illegal activity.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2053009\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2053009\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/2023-01-11T095006Z_1928128680_RC28OY9TIS36_RTRMADP_3_CLIMATE-CHANGE-GERMANY-PROTEST.jpg?w=770&#038;resize=770%2C513\" alt=\"Police officers stop activists who stage a sit-in protest against the expansion of the Garzweiler open-cast lignite mine\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2053009\">The flashpoint over the planned expansion of the Garzweiler mine highlights the growing tensions over Germany\u2019s climate policy [Thilo Schmuelgen\/Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Dina Hamid, who is protesting in Luetzerath, said the demonstrators are \u201cprepared to stay\u201d despite the police presence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are squatting in all of the different structures in Luetzerath, and we are staying here because 280 million tonnes of coal are still supposed to be extracted from the Garzweiler mine,\u201d Hamid said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe cannot stand that. We cannot stand that people are dying from the climate crisis right now, that\u2019s why we are here and we will stay.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Growing tensions over climate policy<\/h2>\n<p>Environmentalists say <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/9\/21\/german-activists-weigh-climate-crisis-as-election-looms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Germany\u2019s climate policy<\/a> has taken a back seat as Europe grapples with an energy crisis, in part driven by Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>For many European nations, the crisis is forcing a return to dirtier fuels.<\/p>\n<p>This is particularly sensitive for the Greens, a party now back in power as part of Chancellor Olaf Scholz\u2019s coalition government after 16 years in opposition until 2021.<\/p>\n<p>The fallout of Russia\u2019s offensive has prompted Scholz\u2019s government to change course on previous policies.<\/p>\n<p><span><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"770\" height=\"434\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hDXkHh5LV9M?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Germany is now firing up mothballed coal power plants and extending the lifespan of nuclear power stations after Russia cut gas deliveries to Europe in an energy standoff that sent prices soaring.<\/p>\n<p>The government has, however, brought forward the date when all brown coal power plants will be shut down in North Rhine-Westphalia, to 2030 from 2038, a campaign promise from the Greens.<\/p>\n<p>The Garzweiler mine extracts about 25 million tonnes of lignite every year, according to RWE. The company has said it supports energy transition and a temporary increase in the use of lignite-fired plants to tide Germany through the energy crisis.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Source<\/p>\n<p>: <\/p>\n<p>Al Jazeera and news agencies<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2023\/1\/11\/german-coal-mine-stand-off-escalates-as-police-move-on-protesters\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><br \/>\n Erasmo Stoval<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a bid to prevent the Garzweiler mine\u2019s expansion, activists say they will keep trying to defend Luetzerath village. German police have begun clearing climate protesters out of an abandoned village in a showdown over the expansion of a coal mine. On Wednesday morning, officers in riot gear moved into Luetzerath, where hundreds of activists [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":596446,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[534,23340,37783],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-596445","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-financial","8":"category-german","9":"category-standoff"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=596445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/596446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=596445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=596445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}