They were the last climate activists to leave the village of Lützerath: After days in the self-built tunnel, “Pinky” and “Brain” ended up leaving voluntarily. The fact that their identity was not determined is apparently based on an agreement with RWE.
There will be no criminal consequences for the two tunnel occupiers from Lützerath: As the Aachen police reported on request, RWE has not filed a complaint against the men. The police therefore do not know the identity of the activists, who called themselves “Pinky” and “Brain”. The tunnel in which the two had stayed for days has since been sealed. It will disappear in the course of lignite mining.
Referring to an internal police document, the “Spiegel” reported that RWE had promised the activists not to report them – if they came out of the tunnel voluntarily. The tunnel occupants had therefore demanded that they be allowed to leave Lützerath masked – without the police taking their personal details and fingerprints. That’s what happened in the end.
Lützerath had been evacuated in a day-long large-scale police operation against the resistance of hundreds of climate activists who had holed up there. The energy company RWE wants to mine lignite there.
The Aachen police presented the final balance sheet for the operation in Lützerath on Wednesday. 372 people left the village “peacefully and voluntarily”. Another 159 that were brought out “had to be identified within the framework of police measures”. A total of 531 activists were in Lützerath at the beginning of the eviction.
The AfD has meanwhile made a small inquiry about the costs of the police operation in the Düsseldorf state parliament. The state government has four weeks to respond.
(This article was first published on Saturday, January 28, 2023.)
