Last Update: January 14, 2023, 12:06 PM IST
Large numbers of protesters, including Thunberg, are expected to gather on Saturday near the village, which has become a symbol of resistance against fossil fuels. (File photo: AFP)
Luetzerath, uninhabited for some time by its original inhabitants, is set to disappear to make way for an expansion of an adjacent open-cast coal mine, operated by RWE, the largest energy firm in Europe.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg will join a mass protest in Germany on Saturday to stop the demolition of a village for the expansion of an opencast coal mine.
In an operation launched earlier this week, hundreds of police are working to remove activists who have already taken over the village of Luetzerath in western Germany.
A spokeswoman for the protest movement told AFP that between 20 and 40 climate militants were still holed up in the village that contested the election on Friday evening.
Officials said they are entering the final stages of evacuating the workers. In a few days, the police have vacated a large part of the protestors’ camp and evacuated the people living in it.
An AFP journalist saw on Friday that demolition work was progressing slowly on evacuated buildings, while nearby trees were felled.
Lüzerath, briefly abandoned by its original inhabitants, is set to disappear to make way for an expansion of an adjacent open-cast coal mine, one of the largest in Europe, operated by energy firm RWE.
Large numbers of protesters – Thunberg among them – are expected to gather on Saturday close to the village, which has become a symbol of resistance against fossil fuels.
The Swedish activist visited the site on the Friday before the meeting.
“Against Withdrawals – For the End of Coal and Climate Justice,” is the rallying call for the protest, which is set to start at noon (1100 GMT) on Saturday.
energy crisis
Police reinforcements have arrived from across the country to take part in the forced evacuation.
In the village, many workers have built structures high in trees, while others have climbed atop abandoned buildings and barns.
Similarly, activists said they had dug a tunnel under the hamlet to complicate the evacuation effort.
The movement has been supported by protest actions across Germany. On Friday, masked activists set fire to bins and wrote slogans at the Greens’ offices in Berlin.
The party – part of Germany’s ruling coalition with Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats and the moderate FDP – has come under heavy criticism from activists who accuse it of betrayal.
Following the energy crisis triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the government has brought old coal power plants back online.
The authorities also signed a settlement agreement with RWE, which paved the way for the demolition of Luetzerath, but spared five nearby villages.
The energy firm also agreed to stop producing electricity from coal in western Germany by 2030, eight years earlier than previously planned.
read all breaking news Here
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)