At the weekend, Greta Thunberg was chased away by the police in the German mining town of Lützerath, which is to be razed to the ground for more mining. On Tuesday, the promotions started again, also today with large numbers. Among them are four Norwegians: Simon Balsnes, Jonas Kittelsen, Elin Schopmeier and Elise Sørensen. – The demonstration made its way towards the mining area. Some have managed to break through the police lines. We are in a group that was held back by police and horses, says Balsnes to news. Simon Balstad says he is prepared to be drawn by the police. Photo: Nature and Youth – From here it is from horizon to horizon, actually, this open daybreak. The police have used tear gas and baton blows against activists who are near us. Balsnes says he is prepared to be arrested by German police as a result of the demonstrations. The police have previously been ordered to remove all the climate activists who have gathered in Lützerath. Kittelsen, who represents Extinction Rebellion in Norway, is present on Tuesday for the first time. – Now there are thousands of police officers protecting the place, and we only use our bodies, but we try, he says. Kittelsen shares his videos from the demonstration on Tuesday. – Especially if you go inside the barricades, you have to wait to be picked up, possibly kicked away and maybe even beaten. Especially if you are alone. Videos submitted by the activists show police on horseback surrounding a group that has entered. Among them are Balsnes and Kittelsen. – We are very clear that we are non-violent. In this sense, we will not escalate the situation further, says the latter. Jonas Kittelsen from Extinction Rebellion is present on Tuesday during the demonstration. Photo: Simon Balsnes Fears a brutal climate effect If the work to expand the lignite mine is allowed to continue, the German energy company RWE will benefit from 280 million tonnes of the climate-worst lignite. The purpose is to supply energy to a starved power market in Germany, which along with the rest of Europe has been badly affected by the war in Ukraine. The village of Lützerath and the land that surrounds it were, until the 1980s, home to around 40,000 people. It is still RWE that owns the land. RWE has the mining rights where there is coal in the country, and can therefore legally demand to buy the land. Churches, houses and schools had to give way, when the extension of the quarry started in 2019. The picture was taken by climate activists inside the coal mine in Lützerath. Photo: Ende Gelände International Today, only eight local residents live in the area. Some of these must have opened their homes to help the activists. Germany has previously promised to phase out coal energy by 2030, and Lützerath is expected to be the last village to be swallowed up by the opencast mine. RWE believes there may be a need for coal already this winter. “Can’t relax the climate targets” – Just this coal mine alone will blow up all climate targets. This is about our future. What we are standing on now, there is coal under us, and if it is taken up, then we will not have a secure, livable future, says Kittelsen. – We feel a kind of duty to fight and stand in solidarity, both with our German activists, but especially perhaps the Global South. If this coal is burned, it will lead to a significant worsening of living conditions for billions of people. The conflict over the Garzweiler mine is in many ways symbolic of the energy challenges in Germany. After phasing out nuclear power, Germany invested heavily in Russian gas. This is despite a red-green government with, among others, a climate and economy minister from the Green Party. From the Twitter account of Ende Gelände International, which here has made it past the police barricades and into the area. Photo: Ende Gelände International Kol from Garzweiler will cause a much bigger problem than the ones the state leaders are facing today, Balsnes believes. – What you have to focus on is energy efficiency, that is setting up more renewable energy in the short term. – We really cannot relax the climate targets in order to face the mid-term crisis that we are facing now. The consequences of not reaching the climate targets are so much worse.
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