Police on Sunday said they had almost finished clearing climate activists from a German village being razed to make way for a coal mine expansion, as both sides accused each other of violence.
In an operation that began on Wednesday last week, hundreds of police have removed about 300 activists from the doomed hamlet of Luetzerath in western Germany.
The clear-out had initially been expected to last weeks, but police on Sunday said that only two climate activists remained in the village, holed up in an underground tunnel.
Photo: AP
“There are no further activists in the Luetzerath area,” police said.
The site, which has become a symbol of resistance to fossil fuels, had attracted thousands of protesters on Saturday, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.
Organizers said that 35,000 protesters demonstrated, while police put the figure at 15,000.
Protest organizers reported that dozens had been injured in clashes with police.
Indigo Drau, a spokeswoman for the organizers, said that police had gone in with “pure violence” while trying to disperse the demonstration.
Officers had “unrestrainedly” beaten protesters, often on the head, the organizers said.
At least 20 activists had been taken to hospital for treatment, said Birte Schramm, a medic with the group.
Some of the injured had been beaten on the head and in the stomach, she said.
Police said that about 70 officers had been injured since Wednesday last week, many of them in Saturday’s clashes.
“We have been targeted by projectiles, with stones, mud, fireworks,” police spokesman Andreas Mueller said. “This does not enter anymore into the frame of a peaceful demonstration.”
Several police vehicles were damaged, including by stone-throwing and graffiti, and a large number of tires on police vehicles were slashed, police said.
Twelve people were arrested or taken into custody.
Investigations have been launched into about 150 cases, police said, including for resisting police officers, property damage and breach of the peace.
Many of the climate activists had been hiding in tree houses and on the roofs of buildings in a bid to complicate the evacuation effort.
Police said that they had cleared 35 “tree structures,” as well as about 30 wooden constructions.
The situation on the ground on Sunday was “very calm,” police said.
Luetzerath — deserted by its former inhabitants — is being demolished to make way for the extension of the adjacent open-cast coal mine.
The mine, already one of the largest in Europe, is operated by energy firm RWE.
The expansion is going ahead despite plans to phase out coal by 2030, with the German government blaming the energy crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The evacuation operation at Luetzerath is politically sensitive for the coalition government of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. He governs with the Greens, who the climate activists accuse of having betrayed their commitments.
The government considers the expansion of the mine to be necessary for Germany’s energy security to compensate for the interruption of Russian gas supplies.
An endangered baby pygmy hippopotamus that shot to social media stardom in Thailand has become a lucrative source of income for her home zoo, quadrupling its ticket sales, the institution said Thursday. Moo Deng, whose name in Thai means “bouncy pork,” has drawn tens of thousands of visitors to Khao Kheow Open Zoo this month. The two-month-old pygmy hippo went viral on TikTok and Instagram for her cheeky antics, inspiring merchandise, memes and even craft tutorials on how to make crocheted or cake-based Moo Dengs at home. A zoo spokesperson said that ticket sales from the start of September to Wednesday reached almost
‘BARBAROUS ACTS’: The captain of the fishing vessel said that people in checkered clothes beat them with iron bars and that he fell unconscious for about an hour Ten Vietnamese fishers were violently robbed in the South China Sea, state media reported yesterday, with an official saying the attackers came from Chinese-flagged vessels. The men were reportedly beaten with iron bars and robbed of thousands of dollars of fish and equipment on Sunday off the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), which Taiwan claims, as do Vietnam, China, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines. Vietnamese media did not identify the nationalities of the attackers, but Phung Ba Vuong, an official in central Quang Ngai province, told reporters: “They were Chinese, [the boats had] Chinese flags.” Four of the 10-man Vietnamese crew were rushed
CHINESE ICBM: The missile landed near the EEZ of French Polynesia, much to the surprise and concern of the president, who sent a letter of protest to Beijing Fijian President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere called for “respect for our region” and a stop to missile tests in the Pacific Ocean, after China launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In a speech to the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday, Katonivere recalled the Pacific Ocean’s history as a nuclear weapons testing ground, and noted Wednesday’s rare launch by China of an ICBM. “There was a unilateral test firing of a ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean. We urge respect for our region and call for cessation of such action,” he said. The ICBM, carrying a dummy warhead, was launched by the
As violence between Israel and Hezbollah escalates, Iran is walking a tightrope by supporting Hezbollah without being dragged into a full-blown conflict and playing into its enemy’s hands. With a focus on easing its isolation and reviving its battered economy, Iran is aware that war could complicate efforts to secure relief from crippling sanctions. Cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah, sparked by Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7 last year, has intensified, especially after last week’s sabotage on Hezbollah’s communications that killed 39 people. Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon followed, killing hundreds. Hezbollah retaliated with rocket barrages. Despite the surge in
RSS