In Lützerath, everything points to the village being evacuated soon. The Green Economics Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Neubaur, once again emphasizes the necessity of lignite mining for energy security. “Unfortunately, there is no way around that,” she says, hoping that the demonstrators will retreat peacefully.
North Rhine-Westphalia’s economics minister, Mona Neubaur, has confirmed the need for opencast lignite mining in Lützerath. This is necessary to produce enough energy for people and the economy, said the Green politician on Bavarian radio. “That’s why there is unfortunately no way around evacuating Lützerath.” Preparations for an announced evacuation had begun on Monday at the location occupied by climate activists in the Rhenish lignite mining area.
Neubaur, who is also Deputy Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, appealed for peacefulness in the announced protests in Lützerath. “I believe in the power of enlightenment and reason – that means that in the end it will be about communicating a lot and showing protest without violence.” When it comes to justified climate protests, it should not be forgotten that “escalation always misses the mark”.
The police have also called on the activists to “distance from crimes” and “behave peacefully.” Officials have been on duty at Lützerath since Monday to secure the initial work of the energy company RWE and to prevent crime. In the process, barricades were also removed from a country road that serves as an access road to Lützerath.
Lützerath is to give way to the expansion of the large Garzweiler lignite opencast mine, which will make the place a symbol of climate protectionists in their fight against coal-fired power generation. The fate of Lützerath has long caused conflicts between politicians and climate protection groups. These were recently exacerbated by the general energy crisis resulting from the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
