Title : Climate activists end blockade of German coal mine as operator threatens to press charges
link : Climate activists end blockade of German coal mine as operator threatens to press charges
Climate activists end blockade of German coal mine as operator threatens to press charges
Hundreds of climate activists have called an end to their protest inside one of Germany's biggest open-pit coal mines after police repeatedly ordered them to leave, pulling some protesters from the site.
Key points:
- Some demonstrators blocked the railroad tracks used to transport coal
- Mine owners condemned the storming of the mine site as dangerous
- European Union leaders failed to agree on how to make the EU carbon neutral by 2050
The Garzweiler lignite coal mine has been the focal point of environmental protests in Germany's Rhineland region since Friday, when 40,000 students rallied for more government action against climate change in the nearby city of Aachen.
On Saturday, some demonstrators blocked the railroad tracks used to transport coal before hundreds broke through a police cordon to enter the mine as part of a campaign on fossil fuels.
Aachen police tweeted that mine operators, who condemned the demonstration as highly dangerous, had filed a criminal complaint against those protesters who had locked themselves to the tracks.
"We wrote climate history this weekend," the activist group End of Story said as it halted the protest.
"Our movement has never been so diverse and never been so determined."
Protesters carried from site by police
The long-planned protests began just hours after European Union leaders failed at a summit to agree on how to make the EU carbon neutral by 2050.
Protesters and police accused each other of combative behaviour in the mine and of causing injuries.
Police repeatedly asked protesters to leave warning they faced life-threatening danger. BBC reported that police used pepper spray to disperse the demonstrators.
Eight officers were injured in scuffles with protesters, police said.
On the railway line, police cut the locks the protesters had used to chain themselves to the tracks and then carried the protesters out one by one.
Inside the mine, some protesters left voluntarily, while others were taken on buses and driven out of the mine. Police took the identities of all demonstrators before letting them go.
German news agency dpa reported that activists claimed police had denied water and food to those who were temporarily detained. Police denied the allegation.
The mine has been the focus of many protests in recent years because the operator, German utility company RWE, planned to cut down a forest to enlarge it.
The utility company stopped mining during the three days of protests.
Following months of climate protests by students and a sharp rise in the polls for Germany's Greens party, German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently threw her weight behind the goal of making Germany climate neutral by 2050.
If reached, the goal would see the country no longer adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.
Scientists say ending fossil fuel use by mid-century is a must if countries want to achieve the 2015 Paris climate accord's most ambitious goal of keeping global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.
ABC/wires
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