L\u00fctzerath, Germany, Nov 12 (AFP\/APP):After the last farmer packed up and left in October, climate activists are the only people left in the village of Luetzerath, Germany, which sits above a rich vein of coal.<\/p>\n
In huts perched six metres (19 feet) above ground in the trees, the young campaigners say they can hold out against the authorities if they try to clear them out. <\/p>\n
They are there in an effort to stop the village being bulldozed to allow the extension of a neighbouring open-air coal mine. <\/p>\n
They do not know when the police might come to force them out, but with Germany in need of more coal, most think it will be soon.<\/p>\n
Europe’s largest economy has restarted part of its mothballed inventory of coal power plants to relieve the pressure on gas-powered facilities, following a cut to supplies from Russia in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine. <\/p>\n
More than a thousand protesters descended Saturday on Luetzerath, now a symbol of the resistance to fossil fuels, to urge more action from participants at the COP27 conference in Egypt.<\/p>\n
Many had painted their faces with the words “Stop coal”.<\/p>\n
Activists unfurled a huge yellow cross — a symbol against coal mine expansion — in a field.<\/p>\n
Alma, a French activist who uses a pseudonym, earlier said she did not know when the evacuation was planned.<\/p>\n
“It’s a question of responsibility, one that is difficult to take for the authorities because it’s a huge operation, for which thousands of police officers need to be mobilised over several weeks,” she said.<\/p>\n
– Mining deal – <\/p>\n
After studying, Alma decided to go full time as an activist and was one of the first to set up the activist camp in Luetzerath two years ago.<\/p>\n
One by one, the residents of Luetzerath have left as their homes were expropriated and they were compensated and rehoused. <\/p>\n
She and the dozens of others who have joined her in the occupied village felt betrayed earlier this year when the government, led by Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, announced a compromise with the energy giant RWE to allow the extension of the nearby mine.<\/p>\n
Under the agreement, five nearby villages will be spared, but Luetzerath is set to disappear.<\/p>\n
Even though RWE, long one of Europe’s biggest emitters, said it would stop producing electricity with carbon in 2030, the activists are not persuaded.<\/p>\n
“If RWE extracts all the coal under Luetzerath, Germany will certainly violate the Paris (climate) accord because of the emissions from the mine. The village is therefore not just a symbol, it’s a critical point in the fight against climate change,” said Alma. <\/p>\n
– ‘In danger’ –<\/p>\n
On the other side of the road, sits the coal pit, where excavators move across golden-black dunes of sand.<\/p>\n
The lignite still in the ground here will be needed “from 2024” to supply power plants as other mines close, RWE says. <\/p>\n
According to a 2021 report by the DIW economic think-tank, the energy company could extract a further 100 million tonnes of coal without having to demolish Luetzerath and the other five villages.<\/p>\n
Despite resorting to more coal power in the current energy crisis, Germany says it is not wavering from its aim of exiting coal power in 2030.<\/p>\n
The climate activists want action accelerated to bring down emissions.<\/p>\n
In recent months, some activists have turned to more extreme means to get their voices heard — including by glueing themselves to main roads and halting traffic. <\/p>\n
Recently, some activists also flung mashed potatoes at a Monet painting in a Potsdam museum.<\/p>\n
In Luezerath, climate activists have set up an intricate camp in the trees to avoid being quickly evicted by the police.<\/p>\n
Using a network of cables, they have connected their encampment. The militants think they can hold out for several weeks, six metres (12 feet) above the ground. <\/p>\n
On the ground in the middle of the camp, around twenty militants try to raise a pole made of a giant tree trunk with a system of pulleys.<\/p>\n
“The poles are tied to the trees in a way that ought to make it impossible to cut the ropes without putting someone’s life in danger,” Alma says. <\/p>\n
Underlining their commitment, an anonymous activist said facing death is the activists’ “entire strategy”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
L\u00fctzerath, Germany, Nov 12 (AFP\/APP):After the last farmer packed up and left in October, climate activists are the only people left in the village of Luetzerath, Germany, which sits above a rich vein of coal. In huts perched six metres (19 feet) above ground in […]<\/p>\n
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