Escalation in Lützerath: Stones fly, while Thunberg calls Germany the "biggest climate sinner".

On command, dozens of police officers stand on a mound of earth in front of the fence around Lützerath Immediately, a handful of hooded figures retreat

A police squad leader stands behind the stationed officers and gives colleagues assessments over the radio “The disruptive situation is poor here

The troublemakers are retreating and moving ” Immediately, a squad of helmeted police officers moved to the right to fill another gap elsewhere

On Saturday afternoon, the situation in the Lützerath settlement, which has been cleared since last Wednesday, escalated From a rally with several thousand demonstrators, groups stream in the direction of Lützerath and the abyss of the Garzweiler opencast lignite mine

Activists shout: "Off to Lützerath! Off to Lützerath! At the previous rally, a speaker on the podium had asked the demonstrators to advance to Lützerath The police use water cannons, observes a reporter from the dpa

Since the situation escalated, police have been making repeated announcements over loudspeakers that "immediate force" will be used if anyone tries to get through the cordon More water cannons are ready, several thousand police officers and several hundred emergency vehicles protect the approximately one and a half kilometer long lattice fence that the energy company RWE had erected within a few hours on Wednesday, the first day of operations

There were clashes with the police when several hundred people broke through the police lines and ran to the edge of the Garzweiler opencast mine, which is about 100 meters from Lützerath stones fly

It all happens while Greta Thunberg speaks at the rally and accuses Germany of being "one of the biggest climate sinners in the world" “We have no intention of giving up

As long as the coal is in the ground, this fight is not over,” says the swedish climate activist in English Joining the party alongside swedish climate activist Thunberg is Luisa Neubauer, the German leader of Fridays for Future

For weeks, environmental organizations and initiatives have been calling internationally to prevent the eviction of Lützerath The energy company RWE, which wants to use the lignite under Lützerath to generate electricity, is considered the ultimate villain, as are the police

She has to enforce the legally permissible and politically agreed evacuation of Lützerath The confrontations with the disturbers drag on into the evening

Pyrotechnics fired at officials Some of them succeed in penetrating the gorge of the opencast mine, one breaks through the barrier of Lützerath and is arrested immediately afterwards

On the fields in front of Lützerath, troublemakers are pushed back, pushed, officials use their batons and pepper spray to slow down the forward drive The responsible police in Aachen were always worried about "ugly pictures", now they have to endure these scenes

Police chief Dirk Weinspach is "absolutely appalled" by the behavior of the intruders A police spokesman reported in the afternoon that pyrotechnics had been fired at officials

The police were initially unable to provide any information about injuries or people in the opencast mine The police had been counting on de-escalation for days

Those who gave up voluntarily on the first day of the eviction were not charged and were able to leave unmolested A number of people followed this announcement, and for four days the police had made surprisingly quick progress with the evacuation

There was less resistance than feared, but the deployment strategy reached its limits with the rally on Saturday The violent demonstrators want to go to Lützerath

After the police took over the settlement occupied by climate activists and extremists in a relatively unspectacular manner, they had to crack down with full force on the day of the Thunberg visit Previously, thousands had initially demonstrated peacefully for the preservation of the area affected by the lignite mining

At noon, people from the neighboring town of Keyenberg set off for a rally near Lützerath The organizers speak of 35,000 demonstrators, the police of up to 15,000 people

Environmental groups and initiatives have called for protests They are demanding an eviction stop and are criticizing and criticizing lignite mining for fueling climate change

They are not allowed to demonstrate in Lützerath itself because there is a ban on entry, so people have to move to a designated area a few hundred meters further on the L12 road Chases in the treetops The officials have been clearing since Wednesday and are well advanced

The last squatters engaged in a life-threatening chase with the police on Saturday before the demonstration in the trees While uniformed high-altitude climbers approached with pallet trucks, lifting platforms and crampons, the masked activists fled from their tree houses climbing ropes higher and higher into the treetops

Under them, the village of Lützerath was razed to the ground Excavators tore down the listed farm and residential buildings

A bulldozer spread huge amounts of earth on the mud floor of the former protest camp Clearing vehicles remove rubble and the remains of destroyed tree houses and huts, harvesters saw off the trees

"Ashamed of you, you have no conscience," shouted a squatter in black clothes from above He is standing on a branch with others

Defiantly they kept shouting "Lützi stays" But "Lützi" doesn't stay

The responsible police authority in Aachen expected an operation of up to four weeks Your President Weinspach had spoken of a task with considerable risks

But now a few days could be enough "We made faster progress because we encountered less resistance than we thought," said a police spokeswoman

There is an unexpected problem underground: at least two squatters have taken refuge in a self-dug tunnel Apparently they want to chain themselves down about four meters deep and embed them in concrete when rescuers get closer underground

"I just think it's terrible what dangers these people take on themselves," says police chief Weinspach, who himself climbed a little way into the tunnel A report circulated briefly on Saturday that the tunnel had collapsed

But that is immediately made clear by RWE and the police: "The situation is stable, rescue workers have stabilized the air supply and are in contact with the people Personally, Weinspach had shown understanding for concerns about global warming, which is threatened by the increased use of lignite

He would have liked Lützerath to be saved, he explained in an open letter at the beginning of the year, but an eviction was "unfortunately inevitable" The fact that Lützerath will be dredged has been legally clarified and politically decided

The police must now enforce this decision, with all severity The confrontations dragged on into the evening

According to observation, the night passed quietly The police, who secure the place, drove patrol again and again

The fire brigade regularly checked a ventilation device in the tunnel in which two activists are supposed to be holding out The police want to continue the evacuation of Lützerath on Sunday

"It will continue throughout the day" a spokesman said in the morning "A few tree structures are still being checked

" According to the police, only a few activists are still in Lützerath The number of people is estimated to be in the single digits, the spokesman said

Large parts of the site were floodlit in the early morning, as dpa reporters reported Excavators drove onto the site to demolish more buildings

"Kick-off Politics" is WELT's daily news podcast The most important topic analyzed by WELT editors and the dates of the day

Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, among others, or directly via RSS feed The number of people is estimated to be in the single digits, the spokesman said

Large parts of the site were floodlit in the early morning, as dpa reporters reported Excavators drove onto the site to demolish more buildings

"Kick-off Politics" is WELT's daily news podcast The most important topic analyzed by WELT editors and the dates of the day

Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, among others, or directly via RSS feed The number of people is estimated to be in the single digits, the spokesman said

Large parts of the site were floodlit in the early morning, as dpa reporters reported Excavators drove onto the site to demolish more buildings

"Kick-off Politics" is WELT's daily news podcast The most important topic analyzed by WELT editors and the dates of the day

Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, among others, or directly via RSS feed The most important topic analyzed by WELT editors and the dates of the day

Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, among others, or directly via RSS feed The most important topic analyzed by WELT editors and the dates of the day

Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, among others, or directly via RSS feed

On command, dozens of police officers stand on a mound of earth in front of the fence around Lützerath Immediately, a handful of hooded figures retreat A police squad leader stands behind the stationed officers and gives colleagues assessments over the radio “The disruptive situation is poor here The troublemakers are retreating and moving ” Immediately, a squad of helmeted police officers moved to the right to fill another gap elsewhere On Saturday afternoon, the situation in the Lützerath settlement, which has been cleared since last Wednesday, escalated From a rally with several thousand demonstrators, groups stream in the direction of Lützerath and the abyss of the Garzweiler opencast lignite mine Activists shout: "Off to Lützerath!