Protest camp bulldozed in German coalmine stand-off

Village of Luetzerath was occupied by climate activists

Riot police gather in front of environmental activists occupying a house in the village of Luetzerath, western Germany. Getty

Police tear down a treehouse of environmentalists in the village of Luetzerath, western Germany, on January 12, 2023, as the evacuation continues of anti-coal activists staging an 'active defence' of the village, ahead of a planned demolition to expand a coal mine. - German police pressed ahead with clearing a camp of anti-coal activists in the abandoned town of Luetzerath which has become emblematic of the country's struggle to transition away from fossil fuels amid an energy crisis. Once numbering as many as 2,000, around 200 anti-coal activists remain in the village, which has been slated for demolition to enable the expansion of the neighbouring Garzweiler coal mine. (Photo by INA FASSBENDER / AFP)

Police prepare to enter a house in the village. EPA

Activists stage a sit-in protest on a road. Reuters

Police enter the village of Luetzerath to break up the demonstration. AFP

Barricades in the village are cleared by police. EPA

A climate activist holds a flare. AP

Police officers take away one of the activists. Reuters

An activist shows a portrait of the farmer Eckardt Heukamp, who was the resident of Luetzerath to leave. EPA

Activists at the Garzweiler lignite mine. AFP

The village is to be demolished so the mine can be expanded. Reuters

Police preparing to evict the activists. Getty

Paving stones form the words 'Luetzi (short for Luetzerath) stays'. AFP

Activists clash with riot police. Getty

Luetzerath is an abandoned village. Reuters

A police car that was targeted by activists. Getty

An excavator at the site. Getty

Participants on the edge of the open pit. AP

Police officers guard an excavator. AFP

German police were on Thursday dismantling a makeshift camp set up by climate protesters as a last stand against a new coal mine.

A wooden house was knocked down by a digger and protesters glued to windows were prised away by police as the hamlet of Luetzerath was cleared for demolition.

As barricades were knocked down, riot police climbed up to treehouses and into farm buildings occupied by protesters, some of whom were were escorted away.

Although some activists left the site, many were still blocking roads on Thursday. Police said overnight that some demonstrators had thrown stones and Molotov cocktails.

Luetzerath, abandoned except for the protesters, is scheduled to be demolished to make way for more mining in Germany's western coal country.

It is a deeply unpopular move among climate activists who say burning more coal compromises Germany's climate-change commitments.

"If we want to see a world with less crisis, we need the fossil fuel destruction to be stopped," said Luisa Neubauer, a prominent German activist and one of the demonstrators in Luetzerath.

Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg said she would join activists there this weekend.

The German government agreed to the enlargement of the open-pit mine to ease pressure on the energy grid after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the order to clear the village has been upheld in the courts.

In exchange, five other villages were spared from demolition and the deadline for the end of coal power in Germany has been brought forward from 2038 to 2030.

The Green party, which opposed the mine while in opposition but is now in government, called for calm on Thursday while saying it sympathised with protesters.

"The pictures from Luetzerath can't fail to move us, because we've always fought against the sustained burning of coal," the party said.

On Wednesday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz's spokesman Steffen Hebestreit suggested the images of a police stand-off were what the activists wanted.

"Debates about how we should better protect the climate and environment are important and part of a democratic discourse," Mr Hebestreit said.

But "as far as Luetzerath is concerned, there is an unambiguous legal position, and that should be respected", he said.