After another protest at the edge of the Garzweiler opencast mine, the police took dozens of activists into custody. Apparently Greta Thunberg is among them.
The police took the Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg into custody along with a group of other demonstrators during a protest near the town of Lützerath. “The group is in police custody for identification purposes,” said spokeswoman for the Aachen police headquarters, Dana Zimmermann, on Tuesday evening when asked by the AFP news agency. However, she did not call Thunberg by name.
Before that, however, there had been reports from climate activists that Thunberg had been arrested. According to the police, the number of people taken into custody is “in the middle double-digit range”. These would have to remain in police custody until everyone’s identity had been established. If some did not want this, “then everyone will have to wait,” said Zimmermann. However, it is not an arrest in the legal sense.
The Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg had previously been carried away by the police as one of several demonstrators from the demolition edge of the Garzweiler opencast lignite mine. This was observed, among other things, by a correspondent for the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”.
Police confirmed Tuesday that Thunberg was part of the group that had moved towards the ledge and were then stopped and carried away.
Dozens of demonstrators at the demolition edge
The mine has a sharp edge, staying there is dangerous and forbidden. According to a dpa photographer, Thunberg was carried away by three police officers and dropped off after a good 50 meters. Around 60 to 70 activists had previously sat down near the edge of the demolition for a protest action.
The village of Lützerath nearby is cordoned off. It was cleared by the police in the past few days and is to be dredged. There was a great deal of resistance to this. Thunberg had previously been seen at a climate protection demonstration that started in the neighboring village of Keyenberg. According to the police, people broke away from this protest train and made their way towards the opencast mine. This led to confrontations with the police.
