Climate Activist Greta Thunberg Arrested in Germany

Climate activist Greta Thunberg (20) on Sunday was detained by German police at a protest over the demolition of a coal mine in the west German village of Lützerath, CNN affiliate N-TV reports.

On Saturday, thousands of people gathered to protest the eviction of an abandoned village, Luetzerath, for the expansion of the Garzweiler coal mine in western Germany.

According to the German newspaper BILD, Thunberg was carried away by two officers after failing to comply with their requests to leave the site.

The photo shows Thunberg smiling with two officers, each wearing a helmet with a face shield, on each side taking her by the arms.

During the weekend demonstrations, 70 police officers were injured and nine protesters were taken to the hospital.

However, organizers of the protest claim that several demonstrators were critically hurt.

The operation to evict the climate activists from Luetzerath began on Wednesday morning and progressed steadily over the following days.

Police cleared people out of farm buildings, the few remaining houses and a few dozen makeshift constructions such as tree houses.

Environmentalists argue that the expansion of the mine would result in huge amounts of greenhouse gas emissions.

The government and utility company RWE argue that the coal is needed to ensure Germany’s energy security.

The German regional and national governments, both of which include the environmentalist Green party, reached a deal with RWE last year allowing it to destroy the abandoned village in return for ending coal use by 2030, rather than 2038.

The Greens’ leaders argue that the deal fulfills many of the environmentalists’ demands and saved five other villages from demolition and that Luetzerath is the wrong symbol for protests.

Activists reject that stance.

On Saturday, police said Thunberg was sitting on an embankment near the mine, before being carried a few steps away by officers due to her noncompliance with requests to move for her safety, as reported by German news agency DPA.

Video also shows her linking arms with other protesters as the police attempted to move the group away from the demolition site.

By Monday, the police announced that the last two protesters who had stayed in a self-dug tunnel to prevent heavy equipment from destroying the village had left the site.

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