Police began clearing occupied forest areas at the Hambach open-pit brown coal mine on Tuesday. But activists announced resistance.
Police have begun a major operation to clear the last section of forest occupied by activists at the Hambach open-pit brown coal mine in the Rhenish district. There were multiple emergency services on site, including specialists for high-altitude operations, a police spokesman said. But activists announced resistance. “We will survive as long as we can,” wrote the “Lützerath Lives” initiative.
A spokesperson for the initiative said that police were in the forest with various forces. The first building belonging to the occupiers has been evacuated and an activist has been arrested. Police did not initially confirm this. “We are here to protect forests and nature from RWE’s destructive plans,” emphasizes the “Lützerath life” initiative.
Activists have been living in a forest west of Cologne for more than a year and built a tree house there. With the occupation they want to prevent deforestation which is called the forest of sin. There were several police operations.
Activists have protested RWE’s plans for years
RWE wants to clear approximately one hectare of forest on the edge of the open pit mine so it can mine gravel. The aim is to stabilize the lake embankment that is planned there later.
“All permits have been obtained. Reviews and necessary species protection measures have been taken,” the company stressed in a statement at the start of the evacuation. Activists were urged to “accept the right not to take part in illegal actions and remain calm in the event of possible protests,” RWE wrote. “Violence is completely unacceptable.”
Kerpen City asked the police for help
To allow RWE to carry out the planned work, the city of Kerpen imposed a ban on staying and entering the forest at the end of September. It said that RWE had all the legal requirements and was permitted to clear the forest.
However, because the activists did not comply with the order and remained in the forest, a police operation was now carried out.
In general since September, the city of Kerpen assumed that activists had built tree houses or platforms on top of a dozen trees in the forest of sin. These are protected from rain and connected to each other via ropes. At that time, the activists were permanently in the forest with five to ten people who were regularly replaced. However, the city government has emphasized that there will be more opponents of brown coal coming to the sin forest by the time the evacuation begins.
Activists have protested RWE’s plans for years
When asked, neither the police nor the activists commented on how many activists were currently in the tree house. A police spokesman said they expected the operation to last throughout the day.
Recently, coal opponents occupied lignite excavators and conveyor belts at the Hambach open pit mine. Special high-altitude rescue police are also on duty.
Brown coal mining in the Rhenish mining region has led to conflict between environmental activists and police for years. The evacuation of 86 treehouses in the Hambach Forest in 2018 is considered one of the largest police operations in the history of North Rhine-Westphalia.
The opencast mine will become a recreational lake
RWE’s plans for the area call for water to be discharged into open-pit mining pits after coal mining is complete to turn it into a recreational lake.
However, forest dwellers accused RWE of wanting to use the lake to build a marina for rich people. They also argue that there are other options for stabilizing embankments that do not require serious intervention.
The environmental protection organization BUND has also tried to prevent the land clearing in court – but without success. The High Administrative Court (OVG) in Münster has allowed RWE to cut down the sin forest in January.
