By Jon Queally | Common Dreams
Hundreds of climate activists stormed a massive open-pit coal mine in Germany on Saturday, entering a standoff with police inside the mine while thousands of others maintained separate blockades of the nation's coal infrastructure as part of a week-long series of actions designed to end Europe's dependency on fossil fuels.
Coordinated by the Ende Gelände alliance, the campaigners targeting the Garzweiler mine in the German state of North-Rhine Westphalia as they evaded security forces across roads and fields before reaching the pit and descending its banks.
“We are unstoppable,” the activists declared, “another world is possible!”
Die letzten Meter. We are unstoppable, another world is possible! pic.twitter.com/pCJetwZSJ7
— Ende Gelände (@Ende__Gelaende) June 22, 2019
“This is not only about coal power,” said Sina Reisch, spokeswoman of Ende Gelände, in a statement. “This is about changing a destructive system that is based on the quest for infinite economic growth and exploitation. We are fighting for a future in which people count more than profits.”
This is what it looked like, as one group put it when “a thousand heroes enter the #Garzweiler mine”:
13:45 Gold ist sowas von in der Grube! Updates folgen hier! #EndeGelaende #AlleGegenRWE #AlleDörferbleiben #ClimateJusticeNow pic.twitter.com/tRM4WPp0fp
— Gasthof Keyenberg (@wearegolden2020) June 22, 2019
The climate action group 350 Europe said the collective action gave them “chills” to witness:
#EndeGelaende activists got into the mine! We get chills just watching this – both the terrible destruction of the coal pit, and the amazing power of the people fighting for #ClimateJusticeNow https://t.co/HL8vcK6vqx
— 350 Europe (@350Europe) June 22, 2019
As clashes began with security forces, the activists declared on social media that they were not the source of the violence and called on the police to withdraw from the area:
Von uns geht keine Eskalation aus. Wir fordern die Polizei auf, sich zurückzuziehen! pic.twitter.com/1H8emVyZiA
— Ende Gelände (@Ende__Gelaende) June 22, 2019
With the Garzweiler mine occupation underway, a separate team of Ende Gelände activists on Saturday maintained a blockade of railway tracks leading to the coal-fired Neurath power station, also in Rhineland, that began on Friday. The activists spent the night on the tracks to keep any trains from coming or going.
How can we cut 100.000.000 Tons of CO2 emissions in Europe ?
👉 Block the coal supply with #EndeGelaende pic.twitter.com/3bXVcXajeM
— ᴊᴏᴀɴɪᴇ ʟᴇᴍᴇʀᴄɪᴇʀ ⏚ (@JoanieLemercier) June 22, 2019
“This year,” said Nike Malhaus, another spokesperson for Ende Gelände, “the climate justice movement is hitting a new peak. We are more determined, more diverse and more united than ever before. The climate crisis is already a reality, especially for people in the global South. We are bringing the age of fossil fuels to an end today.”
In a tweet on Saturday afternoon, Kathrin Henneberger, another spokesperson for the group, said [English translation]: “This weekend, we have completely shut down the CO2 source in Europe, the Rhineland lignite mining area. No coal train goes to the power plants anymore. No excavator works anymore in the opencast mines. It is amazing !!!! Thanks to all the thousands of brave ones.”
