The destruction of Lützerath, in the Rhenish basin, is planned to allow the extension of the Garzweiler mine.
Le Monde with AFP
The municipality of Lützerath is, like others, for a long time to disappear to allow the coal mine to extend. According to the organizers, some 3,500 people demonstrated, on Saturday, April 23, in Lützerath, in the Rhine mining basin, just a few hundred meters from the gigantic open -air mine of Garzweiler, regularly targeted by environmental activists. The police have not yet communicated the number of participants.
A hundred activists have decided to protest on the brink, which can be “extremely dangerous”, said the police of the Rhineland-du-Westphalie region, asking the police in a tweet, asking Organizers to convey the message among the protesters.
Reduce its dependence on Russian gas
Since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the debate on coal is however relaunched in the country, very dependent on Russian gas, which hitherto represented some 55 % of its imports. In order to ensure the production of electricity while reducing its dependence, the German government has given itself the end of March the possibility of “suspending” the closure of certain coal power plants to replace Russian gas, while ensuring that the objective of an outing of coal by 2030 remains unchanged.
“How can we have confidence in the government’s ability to contribute to peace in Ukraine if he destroys houses and villages in his own country for fossil fuels?” Dunnated ILYESS EL KORTBI, Ukrainian activist of the Fridays for future movement, quoted in a press release.
Lützerath has become the new rallying point for the German ecological movement. Activists have built huts there and prepare for confrontation with the police. Greta Thunberg had visited the region last September.
The coal that is in the basement of these municipalities will be “necessary from 2024” to supply the power plants, while the other mines in the region close, assures the operator, the RWE energy group. Other hamlets are already completely abandoned. Most of their inhabitants have been relocated to new villages built at a good distance from the mine.