CNN
—
In 2023, this is a grim image. Police in riot gear flood the village, driving people out of their homes and demolishing structures to make way for the arrival of excavators to access the rich. coal seam underground.
Police have eliminated hundreds of activists since Wednesday when rain and wind hit the small West German village of Lützerath. In Lützerath he stayed for more than two years, and some live in houses abandoned by his former residents, mostly by 2017, after being evicted to make way for the mines.
Over 1,000 police officers are involved in the eviction operation. Most of the buildings have now been demolished, but some activists remained in treehouses or sheltered in pits dug in the ground as of Friday, according to Aachen city police.
Protest organizers expect thousands more to demonstrate against its destruction on Saturday, although the village may eventually become inaccessible. RWE is expected to be completed after the eviction is complete. 1.5 kilometer perimeter fence Meander around Lützerath and block off the village buildings, streets and sewers before they are demolished.
Still, the activists vow to keep fighting for the village.
“We are taking action against this destruction by getting in the way of excavators,” said Ronni Zeppelin of the campaign group Lützerath Lebt (Lützerath Lives).
Lützerath, about 20 miles west of Düsseldorf, is the flashpoint of Germany’s climate change because it sits on the edge of the open-pit lignite coal mine Garzweiler II.
The mine is spread over approximately 14 square miles (35 square kilometers) in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW).
Slowly creeping outside over the years and already swallowing A village where families have lived for generations. prompted the destruction of Hundreds of years old buildings even wind farms.
RWE had long planned to expand the mine further in the face of criticism from climate change groups.Lignite is the most polluted form of coal and is itself most polluting fossil fuel.
As far back as 2013, German court ruled The company was able to expand even at the expense of nearby villages.
Followed by greens success Some wanted the expansion to be halted in the 2021 federal elections, said David Dresen, a member of the climate change group Aller Dörfer bleiben (All Villages Stay) and a resident of Kookum, a village slated for destruction. said Mr.
However, in October 2022, the government struck a deal with RWE to save several villages, including Kuckum, but allow RWE to demolish the Lützerath to give access to the coal beneath it. .
In return, RWE has agreed to accelerate the coal phase-out to 2038-2030.
The Greens throw it as a win.
“We saved five villages and three farms from destruction, avoided forced displacement of 500 people, and accelerated the coal phase-out eight years,” emailed CNN.
The Greens and RWE also say the expansion will help ease the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, which has cut gas supplies.
This is “not a revival of lignite or coal, just a workaround to help Germany deal with its energy crisis,” RWE spokesman Guido Steffen told CNN in an email.
Climate change groups are vehemently opposed to the deal. Continuing to burn coal for energy emits emissions that cause global warming and violates the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees, he said. Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Both RWE and the Greens have rejected claims that mine expansion will increase overall emissions, saying the European cap means they can offset excess carbon emissions.
Many feel betrayed by the Green Party, including those who voted for the Green Party.
“Germany, the country everyone else thinks we have green, is a very absurd and devastating scenario. [policies]is destroying villages to burn coal in the midst of the climate crisis,” said Dresen, who voted green in the recent election.
Fabian Hübner, Energy and Coal Campaign Manager at Europe Beyond Call, said:
Germany should instead accelerate its transition to clean energy, including the rapid deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency measures, he added.
Some studies suggest that Germany may not even need additional coal. August report Coal Transitions, an international research platform, has found that even if coal-fired power plants run at very high capacity by the end of this decade, they will still be able to use more coal than they need from existing supplies.
It’s a very uncomfortable moment for the Greens and an unfathomable catastrophe for those who want to save the village.
“Of course the pictures of Lützerath are painful, because we have always struggled with the continuous burning of coal,” Rechthep said on behalf of the NRW Greens. “We know the importance of the Lützerath as a symbol of the climate movement. But this should not obscure what has been achieved,” he added.
Party displeasure deepens as protests organized by a coalition of climate groups take place on Saturday when thousands of people, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, are expected to gather in Lützelath. There is a possibility.
“It’s up to us now to stop the wrecking balls and coal rigs. We’re not going to make this eviction easy,” said Pauline Brünger of the climate change group Fridays for Future.
Even if the village is completely evacuated and access cut off by Saturday, climate change groups say the protests will still continue.
Dina Hamid, a recently evicted Lützerath Lept activist, told CNN, “In the end it’s not about the village, it’s about the coal staying on the ground and I We will fight it as long as we can.”
