Greta Thunberg detained: In a major development, Climate activist Greta Thunberg was detained by German Police on Tuesday when she was staging protests against the demolition of the coal village of Luetzerath. According to the police officials, she was detained along with her group members and added they will be freed later in the day.
The protests in several locations in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia came a day after the last two climate activists holed up in a tunnel beneath the village of Luetzerath left the site. Dozens of climate activists glued themselves to a main street in Germany’s western city of Cologne and to a state government building in Duesseldorf.
Near Rommerskirchen, a group of about 120 activists also occupied the coal railroad tracks to the Neurath power plant, according to police and energy company RWE. Those who refused to leave the tracks were carried away, dpa reported.
Village itself was evacuated by the police
In addition, several people occupied a giant digger at the coal mine of Inden, while hundreds of other protesters joined a protest march near Luetzerath. The village itself was evacuated by the police in recent days and is sealed off.
Thunberg was one of several protesters carried away by police from the mine’s edge in the afternoon, German news agency dpa reported. One protester was able to enter the mine, RWE said, calling the move “very reckless,” dpa said. Police and RWE started evicting protesters from Luetzerath on Jan. 11, removing roadblocks, chopping down treehouses and bulldozing buildings. Activists have cited the symbolic importance of Luetzerath for years, and thousands of people demonstrated Saturday against the razing of the village by RWE for the expansion of the Garzweiler coal mine.
(With inputs from AP)
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