Greta Thunberg Arrested by German Police during Mine Protest
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German police arrested Greta Thunberg during a protest against the expansion of a coal mine in the town of Lützerath on Tuesday.
Thunberg was among a group of activists who were reportedly rushing toward the mine’s opening when she was detained by security services.
“Greta Thunberg was part of a group of activists who rushed towards the ledge. However, she was then stopped and carried by us with this group out of the immediate danger area to establish their identity,” local police said in a statement.
Police said Thunberg and her fellow protesters would be released without being charged.
Thousands of climate activists have recently made their way to Lützerath, located near the Belgium-German border, to prevent the razing of the town to make way for the planned construction of a new coal mine. Protesters made makeshift treehouses and watchtowers to barricade themselves against police enforcement attempts to remove them.
Over 1,000 police officers descended on Lützerath this week, as an estimated 15,000 to 35,000 protesters traveled to the mining town to take part in demonstrations.
However, German public opinion has moved behind the project as the war in Ukraine has undermined Europe’s energy access and independence. Even members of Germany’s Green Party have defended the development of national coal resources, including in Lützerath, despite the mass protests.
“I also believe that climate protection and protest need symbols,” Robert Habeck, Germany’s business, energy, and climate minister and Green Party leader said during a news conference in Berlin last week. “But the empty settlement Lützerath, where no one lives anymore, is in my view the wrong symbol.”
The movement’s de facto leader, Moritz Lahaye, noted shortly after police had evicted him from a makeshift house that he could “leave here with my head held high, knowing we managed to stay here this long.”
On Saturday, Thunberg addressed thousands of protestors, denouncing the German proposal as a “betrayal of present and future generations,” adding that the country “is one of the biggest polluters in the world and needs to be held accountable.”
