The coal must remain underground, Luetezarth must be saved. With this message, thousands of people – 35,000 according to the organizers, 10,000 for the police – demonstrated in Germany against the planned extraction by the energy giant Rwe in the small North Rhine-Westphalian village. At the head of the procession is Swede Greta Thunberg. And it was the well-known ecologist who incited the activists who have occupied the site since 2020 to resist: “You are the real leaders!”. A protest marked by violent clashes with police using water cannons, batons and pepper spray, a police spokesman told ANSA. According to the official, the infiltration of violent criminals and Black Bloc subjects responsible for the escalation was clear. “About fifteen activists – Dietmar Brüning also reported – forced their way into the mine. That is very risky. The ground is slippery and wet, they risk being buried.” Greta’s speech was eagerly awaited, accused very harshly with the Greens, the federal government and Germany, among others, of “being among the most polluting countries in the world and bearing an enormous responsibility”. “They are proof that change will not come from those in power, from governments or from corporations, from so-called leaders. No, the guides are here. They are the people who sit in the tree houses and who have been defending Lützerath for years,” he said to a cheering crowd. “Lützerath is still there, and as long as the coal stays in the ground, this fight will not be over,” he urged. “The fact that the Greens make compromises with such companies shows where their priorities lie,” he also accused the dpa. “I’ve been here before and today it’s a very different place. It really feels like Mordor,” she added, quoting the dark land from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. “It shows what humans are capable of when assumptions are wrong.” Greenpeace, which is part of a broad coalition of associations against coal mining, also denounced the consequences of a possible success of the mine: “Lützerath is a border that we cannot cross. Germany should comply with the Paris climate agreement,” says Karsten Smid, energy expert from Greenpeace Germany. “Rwe’s greed cannot be more important than the health of the citizens and climate protection. This coal has to stay underground.”
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