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BERLIN (AA) – Climate activists blocked railway tracks in northwestern Germany on Tuesday to protest coal-mining plans in the region.
Dozens of climate activists chained themselves to the tracks leading to the lignite-fired power plant Neurath, owned by the energy company RWE.
"The #Neurath coal-fired power plant (one of the biggest CO2 polluters in Europe) is blocked. We occupy the railroad tracks forever," the activists said on Twitter.
Dozens of other activists occupied an excavator on the site of the Inden open-cast lignite mine in the early hours of the morning.
"Every ton of coal mined here further fuels the climate crisis – with catastrophic consequences. We take climate justice into our own hands and stop the excavator and the conveyor belt," they said.
- Greta Thunberg joins protests
A large demonstration also took place near the village of Lutzerath, which was forcibly evicted by police last week to expand a nearby coal mine.
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg joined hundreds of protesters, who marched against the demolition of the village.
The police arrived with horses to disperse climate activists, used pepper spray and batons to prevent them from coming closer to the village and the coal-mining area.
A spokesman for the environmental group Ende Gelande, which organized Tuesday's demonstration, said climate activists would continue their civil disobedience actions to stop coal mining in the region.
"Even if you destroy Lutzerath, we will continue to fight," Charly Dietz said in a statement, calling for an end to coal mining and fossil fuel use.
- Activists condemn police violence
"Lutzerath represents everything that is wrong with fossil capitalism," said Luka Scott, a climate activist.
"Politicians make anti-democratic deals with corporations like RWE and then enforce them with police violence," she added.
According to the activists, more than 100 protesters were injured due to police violence during demonstrations over the weekend.
"We are shocked by the police violence that we observed and experienced in Lutzerath and condemn it in the strongest possible terms," Greenpeace Germany said in a statement.
At the moment, several people are in seven-day detention, and one person is in pre-trial detention, climate activists said on social media.
Lutzerath was occupied by coal opponents for two years and became a symbol for environmental groups calling for an end to the use of coal and fossil fuels.
Last week, the energy company RWE began demolishing buildings in the abandoned village to expand the Garzweiler coal mine.
The company said in a statement that the coal under Lutzerath is needed to "make the best use" of the lignite fleet during the energy crisis amid the Russia-Ukraine war.
Under an agreement between the government and RWE, the company will bring forward its coal phase-out by eight years and end lignite-fired power generation by 2030.