Greta Thunberg Detained Again At Anti-Coal Protest

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was among those detained by police Tuesday at an anti-coal protest in Germany, just two days after law enforcement removed her and others from the same site.

Video captured at the protest showed three officers carrying a seemingly unbothered Thunberg, 20, away from the demonstration at the abandoned German village of Lützerath, which is set to be destroyed so the Garzweiler coal mine, owned by European energy giant RWE, can expand.

Alle Dörfer Bleiben, a group fighting such coal mining expansions, also confirmed that Thunberg was detained with members of the group again, and gave her a “special thanks” for participating in the protest.

Police told the BBC they arrested Thunberg and others after they “rushed towards the ledge” of the mine. All will be released without charges after their identities are checked, police said.

Thunberg and other demonstrators were also detained Sunday.

Thousands of protesters have descended on Lützerath, in western Germany, in recent days. Many of them have voiced opposition to the mine expansion for years. Interactions between the activists and police have grown violent at times, resulting in the hospitalizations of at least nine demonstrators.

“Germany is really embarrassing itself right now,” Thunberg told reporters on Friday.

She and other activists say expanding the coal mine would contribute to the climate crisis and be counterproductive to Germany’s commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The country has pledged to phase out coal power generation by 2030, but it also recently approved coal expansion projects, saying they’re necessary to maintain the country’s energy security as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to disrupt oil and gas supplies.