While ordinary Germans struggle to warm their homes amid an unfolding energy crisis this winter, climate activists disrupted coal mining. They clashed with the police near the western German city of Aachen.
Violent clashes occurred as police tried to vacate the abandoned village of Lützerath, which more than 1000 climate activists had occupied to stop the expansion of a local coal mine. As energy demands rise in winter, Germany has turned to coal-fired power plants to produce electricity.
Climate militants “threw stones, firecrackers and even Molotov cocktails,” the German newspaper Bild reported Wednesday. 1,500 police officers were on the scene with “water cannons and armored clearing vehicles” to vacate the occupied village, the newspaper added.
German police, which previously showed little restraint towards anti-lockdown demonstrators, pleaded helplessly with the climate squatters to vacate the mining zone.
Taking a leaf out of the jihadi playbook, violent climate agitators were seen using small kids as human shields, German reports suggest. “Police urge activists not to use their children as shields,” prominent German journalist Julian Reichelt tweeted on Wednesday.
“What is happening in Lützerath is nothing more than Green Terror against the state. Incendiary devices and stones [thrown] on police,” he noted.
German state-run DW TV reported the police operation:
Police deployed around Lützerath on Wednesday and started the eviction of climate protesters in the village.The energy giant RWE is set to bulldoze the village in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) — the most populous federal state in Germany — to start opencast brown coal mining operations.”The evacuation of Lützerath has begun,” police wrote on Twitter. “The area is being fenced off. People in the cordoned-off area currently have the opportunity to leave the place without further police measures.”During the evacuation, police said activists had thrown stones and fireworks in their direction.”Immediately refrain from throwing Molotov cocktails. Behave peacefully and non-violently!” police tweeted.Police had earlier made a loudspeaker announcement at the site, telling protesters they could leave without repercussions.
Climate militants called for violence, spraying the village with graffiti slogans like “Kill the Cops” and “Are you Ready for the Riot,” video clips from the scene show.
The climate clashes come less than two weeks after migrant gangs armed with fireworks attacked police and firefighters on New Year’s Eve in cities across Germany. According to German media reports, 15 police officers and 18 firefighters were injured in the rioting.
After Germany, the U.S., and European allies placed sanctions on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine, the country was confronted with a massive energy crisis. Russia was Germany’s biggest natural gas supplier, a major source for powering the industry and generating electricity. Russian gas supplies have also been disrupted after mysterious explosions in late September blew up large parts of Nord Stream 1 and 2 undersea pipelines.
As winter bites in, Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, faces widespread “de-industrialization,” analysts fear. German public broadcaster Tagesschau warned that “according to a study, massive surge in gas prices may lead to the de-industrialization of German and Europe.”
The government’s rationing energy supply isn’t helping either. Citing a recent industry survey, Bloomberg News reported that the German manufacturers were “running out of ways to save” energy. “Large parts of German industry will no longer be able to avoid production cuts if companies need to further reduce natural gas consumption,” the broadcaster added.
Raw footage of climate rioting (h/t Alternative For Germany party):
(Excerpts from German news reports translated by author)
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