Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Young activist Greta Thunberg was detained by German police, Tuesday (17/1/2023) local time. This was due to a protest at the coal mine village of Lutzerath, western Germany.
In a number of photos shared Getty you can see how two fully clothed police officers hold his shoulders. In another photo, he is also seen being lifted by three policemen.
“This is the second time Thunberg has been detained at this location,” police spokesman Christof Hüls told CNN International.
“He was part of a large group of protesters who broke through police barriers and into a coal pit, which the authorities have not been able to fully contain,” he added.
He said Greta and a number of other activists were trying to advance to the coal pit. This, the police emphasized, was dangerous because it could move the ground which had previously been prone to landslides due to rainfall over the past few days.
Officers finally intervened and move activists from the “danger area”. One of the detained activists is Thunberg.
“We know who he is, but he doesn’t get VIP treatment,” said Hüls.
“He didn’t fight,” he said again.
Lutzerath is about 20 miles west of Dusseldorf. The village has long been a “hot spot” for climate issues in Germany due to the position of the open lignite coal mine, Garzweiler II.
The mine spans approximately 14 square miles (35 square kilometers) in North Rhine Westphalia (NRW). Power company RWE manages the mine.
The expansion of the mine reaped controversy because lignite is considered the most polluting form of coal, which is the most polluting fossil fuel. The problem in the village of Lutzerath has also forced the German government to deploy 1,000 policemen since last week.
The village has actually been uninhabited for a long time due to plans to expand the coal mine since 2017. However, in the past two years, hundreds of activists have occupied the houses left by residents who should have been evicted to make way for the mine.
Most of the buildings have now been cleared. But, according to Aachen city police, some activists remain in “tree houses” or holes dug into the ground.
“We took action against this destruction by putting our bodies in the way of excavators,” vowed activist Ronni Zeppelin, of the campaign group Lützerath Lebt (Lützerath Lives), quoted the same page as saying.
It should be noted that Germany itself is currently in an energy crisis due to dependence on Russian gas in the midst of the Kremlin and Ukraine wars, which limited their access to this energy source. Coal is the government’s temporary alternative.
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