North Rhine-Westphalia: Neubaur calls for the non-violent evacuation of Lützerath

Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) - North Rhine-Westphalia's Economics and Climate Protection Minister Mona Neubaur has called for a non-violent end to the occupation of the lignite village of Lützerath by climate activists.

North Rhine-Westphalia: Neubaur calls for the non-violent evacuation of Lützerath

Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) - North Rhine-Westphalia's Economics and Climate Protection Minister Mona Neubaur has called for a non-violent end to the occupation of the lignite village of Lützerath by climate activists. "The eviction is a painful but unfortunately necessary step," said the Greens politician and Deputy Prime Minister in an interview with the German Press Agency. "We are thus able to phase out coal in the Rhenish mining area eight years earlier."

It is clear that this success will lead to a “challenging situation in January”, said the Greens politician. "Should there be a police operation and an eviction, I appeal to everyone involved to do this as non-violently as possible."

Lützerath near Erkelenz is to be dredged for coal extraction. Activists who want to fight for the place live in the houses whose former residents have moved away. They expect an eviction from January 10th. A broad alliance of environmental organizations, climate groups and local initiatives has called for a major demonstration in Lützerath on January 14th.

As a minister, who was in Lützerath herself as a former Green Party chairwoman, she is looking for dialogue with the activists, said Neubaur. "I face the criticism and don't duck it." The decision to clear Lützerath was not easy. "But I can represent them with attitude, also because we had them checked very intensively." It was achieved that the phase-out of coal was brought forward from 2038 to 2030, that five villages could be saved from destruction and that around 280 million tons of lignite remained underground.