Police in western Germany carried Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and other protesters away from the edge of an open coal pit mine where they demonstrated against the ongoing destruction of a village to make way for the mine’s expansion, German news agency dpa reported.
Thunberg was among hundreds of people who resumed anti-mining protests at multiple locations in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia a day after the last two climate activists holed up in a tunnel beneath the village of Luetzerath left the site.
The German government reached a deal with energy company RWE last year, allowing it to destroy the village in return for ending coal use by 2030, rather than 2038. Both argue that coal is needed to ensure Germany’s energy security which is squeezed by the cut in the supply of Russian gas due to the war in Ukraine.
But environmentalists say bulldozing Luetzerath will result in vast greenhouse gas emissions. Germany is expected to miss its ambitious climate targets for the second year in a row.