Caption:
Lützerath, 31.10.2021
Against expropriation
Around 5000 people are demonstrating against the expansion of the Garzweiler II opencast lignite mine and the threatened demolition of Lützerath and five other villages in the Rhenish lignite mining region. A broad alliance of organizations had called for the demonstration.
The coal company RWE wanted to take control of all the land in the village from 1 November and then demolish it. However, the last farmer in the village, Eckardt Heukamp, is taking legal action before the Münster Higher Administrative Court against his premature expropriation for lignite by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and RWE. RWE therefore informed the Münster Higher Administrative Court a few days ago that it would wait until the court's decision before clearing and destroying Lützerath - but at the longest until 7.1.2022.
Here: The alliance "Ende Gelände", which has announced civil disobedience actions for the protest day in order to block the coal mining, is stopped by the police at the edge of the coal mine.
Photo: Roland Geisheimer / attenzione / Focus Agency