The young environmental activist Greta Thunberg was detained Tuesday by German police while participating in a protest against the demolition of the village of Lützerath, where hundreds of people have been gathering for several days to prevent the expansion of an open-pit coal mine.
Around 70 protesters sat down on the edge of the Garzweiler coal mine, to which the police responded by first surrounding and then holding them back. Among them was Thunberg, who joined the protests on Saturday.
Tuesday’s mobilization began in the neighboring town of Keyenberg, where Thunberg was seen. The demonstrators broke away from this first protest and headed for Lützerath and the open-cast mine, at which point clashes with officers began, reports Die Welt.
The village of Lützerath, in western Germany and long abandoned by its inhabitants, was still occupied until Sunday afternoon by a small number of activists opposed to the expansion of coal mining in the area by the energy company RWE.
Police said that Thunberg had not been arrested, but was being held for further identification. The demolition of the village remains suspended after two people are still inside a tunnel.
Police and protesters have accused each other of acting violently in Saturday’s riots. The protesters claim that dozens have been injured, some seriously and potentially life-threatening, while authorities say 70 officers have been injured. Up to twelve demonstrators have been arrested.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
