Riot police evict people from village as it is demolished for new coal mine

12 January 2023 , 02:46

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Riot police evicted protestors in Luetzerath, Germany to make way for a coal mine (Image: Getty Images)

Police in riot gear were called in to clear protestors from a village after demolition began to make way for a controversial new coal mine.

Some stones and fireworks were thrown by activists on Wednesday morning as officers entered to fence off the tiny hamlet of Luetzerath in northwest Germany.

Energy company RWE has won a contract to extract coal beneath the settlement, a move which it along with the local government claims is necessary to ensure energy security in Germany.

The firm reached a deal last year that allows the village to be destroyed in return for ceasing all coal use by 2030, rather than the proposed national deadline of 2038.

Stones and fireworks were thrown by environmental activists as officers entered to fence off the village (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

But the plans have been fiercely opposed by environmental activists, who claim it will result in huge amounts of greenhouse gas emissions.

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A number had taken to camping out in the village - some in tree houses - before police removed barricades they had set up near the entrance of the site on Wednesday.

Officers also removed dozens of disgruntled people from an impromptu roadblock, with some leaving voluntarily while others were carried away.

One protestor let out a scream as a roadblock was broken up by police (AFP via Getty Images)

One reportedly screamed in apparent pain as officers took her away.

Squatters were also evicted from farm warehouse, while others braved chilly winds to stand on the roofs of Luetzerath's remaining buildings

Speaking from the top-floor window of one of the houses, 53-year-old local resident Petra Mueller said she was "really afraid" and had been at the site for a few days.

She said she would defend Luetzerath "until nothing is left standing", adding that hope dies last."

A local resident said she would defend Luetzerath "until nothing is left standing" (Getty Images)

Protestors in the condemned village have defied a court ruling effectively banning them from the area.

On Tuesday some built dug trenches, built barricades and perched atop giant tripods in an effort to stop heavy machines from reaching the village, before police pushed them back by force.

Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, a member of the Green Party who is Germany's economy and climate minister, said the agreement as "a good decision for climate protection" that fulfils many of the environmentalists' demands and saves five other villages from demolition.

"I think climate protection and protests need symbols but the empty hamlet of Luetzerath, where no one lives any more, is the wrong symbol from my point of view," Habeck told reporters in Berlin.

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