Greta Thunberg was arrested in protest against coal mine in Germany

The young Swedish environmental leader Greta Thunberg was briefly detained on Tuesday in Germany along with other protesters during a protest against the expansion of a coal mine in the west of the country.

In some photos released by AFP, the activist, dressed in black, is seen being carried by three policemen who carry her by her arms and legs, near the town of Lützerath.

The people were detained after “they will separate from the demonstration” and ran to the edge of an open well, police said.

The activists were then removed from the “danger zone” by bus and the agents verified their identity before releasing them, said a spokesman for the institution.

They were held forseveral hours”, as there were many protesters, he explained, without giving an exact figure for the number of participants. At no time were the activists formally detained, he said.

Thunberg, 20, has been in Germany since Saturday, when she took part in a demonstration that brought together thousands of people in Lützerath.

The march was organized in support of the last activists occupying the town to oppose the expansion of an open pit coal mine.

“It is a shame that the German government reaches agreements and compromises with companies like RWE”, the German energy group, declared the young woman from a rostrum.

“Lützerath lives!”

The town, located in the Rhine basin — between Düsseldorf and Cologne — must disappear to allow the expansion of a huge open-pit lignite mine, one of the largest in Europe, operated by RWE.

To prevent this, about 300 activists occupied the town. The last two left the place on Monday, after the police operation to evict their camp.

The demonstration on Saturday brought together more than 15,000 people — according to police figures — and ended with clashes that left a dozen injured.

The demonstrators held up banners with slogans such as “Stop coal” and “Lützerath lives!”.

In October, the German government, led by Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, signed a commitment with RWE allowing the destruction of the town, whose inhabitants were expropriated several years ago.

In return, the company agreed to stop producing electricity from coal by 2030, eight years ahead of schedule.

The Executive considers the expansion of the mine necessary to guarantee the country’s energy security after the interruption of the Russian gas supply, due to the war in Ukraine.

But critics of the plan argue that current lignite reserves are sufficient.

Thunberg shook the world when she was just 16 years old and went to the Swedish Parliament every Friday with a banner that read “School strike for climate”.

Soon after, hisschool strike”, transmitted through social networks, crossed borders and promoted the global movement “friday for the future”, which calls for action against global warming.

Source: AFP