End of terrain 2015

At the end of 2015, there was a major campaign by the anti-coal power movement to occupy the Garzweiler open- cast lignite mine of RWE Power by activists for climate protection . On August 15, 2015, up to 1000 people blocked operations in the open pit in an act of civil disobedience . The police operation with over 30 injured people and the close cooperation between the police and RWE wax guards were then the subject of the interior committee of the Düsseldorf state parliament.

The follow-up campaign at the end of 2016 took place in the Lusatian lignite district operated by Vattenfall .

background

The process of global climate change exacerbates conflicts over dwindling key resources such as water, soil, food and energy resources. According to the activists, people in the global south who suffer particularly badly from disasters such as droughts or floods are particularly affected. The activists argued that in Germany energy companies like RWE made billions in profits for decades, while those affected in the open-cast mining areas suffered “from damage to health, resettlement and the demolition of their villages”. The demands for a “ Green New Deal ” (“green capitalism”), technical solutions and individual appeals for renunciation are eyewash, because the capitalist economic order with a constant pressure to expand is incompatible with strong sustainability and other economies. This “growth logic” is the main reason why the red-black federal government and the red-green North Rhine-Westphalian state government stuck to coal-based power generation.

organization

The campaign was embedded in various other events on the topic. A climate camp took place between August 7th and 17th, 2015. A summer school on degrowth and climate justice took place at the same location from August 9-14 , 2015.

The campaign was organized by different groups. In addition to individuals, green-alternative groups, and active members of the anti-nuclear movement, the project was also largely supported by the anti-capitalist alliance Interventionist Left . For the action end site was mobilized nationwide.

action

On the morning of August 15, 2015, activists from different directions set out for the Garzweiler opencast mine. In Erkelenz succeeded up to 1,000 demonstrators penetrate into the Garzweiler opencast mine. The police later spoke of 805 people.

Some activist groups broke police chains. Because of activists climbing a bridge, the nearby A 61 at the Jackerath junction was closed by the police. The closed highway was used by some activists to walk into the open pit. Robin Wood supported the action with his own activists. The police operation of 1200 officers, on which u. a. the NRW riot police was involved, was directed by the local police in Düren .

Three of the seven excavators in the Garzweiler opencast mine stood still for hours because of the action. One group occupied the active bucket wheel excavator 261 and shut it down. In the afternoon the police succeeded in ending the occupation of the 80-meter-high and 200-meter-long device by activists.

The North Rhine-Westphalia police cleared the facility with the help of 1200 officers and the help of RWE factory security. Tear gas and batons were used during the police operation . The police arrested around 100 people on site. 36 people were injured, six of them were hospitalized with more serious injuries. A large number of the demonstrators, escorted by the police, were driven from the site in RWE visitor buses.

Reactions

RWE reaction

RWE filed charges of trespassing against all protesters and journalists present, whereupon 797 criminal proceedings were initiated. The police in Düren stated that investigations are also being carried out for breach of the peace, violation of the weapons law and disruption of public operations.

Guido Steffen, press spokesman for RWE-Power, had already told WDR on August 14, 2015, one day before the action: “Anyone who enters our company premises, steps into production facilities, paralyzes them is committing a criminal offense. A crime that we will report and which we will also prosecute. "

Around 300 RWE Power employees had gathered in Grevenbroich on the morning of August 15, 2015 to demonstrate for the continued existence of the opencast mine in Garzweiler and for, according to the works council Jürgen Linges, “safe, affordable energy supply and good jobs”. The group wanted to move to the social wing of the Garzweiler II opencast mine. They canceled the action, however, as they said the path of activists and employees would have crossed and, according to Linges, confrontations should be avoided.

According to Guido Steffen (RWE-Power), “the colleagues were of course angry that they could not exercise their democratic rights at their own workplace because of the illegal actions of others”. The official initiator of the action, Works Council Walter Butterweck ( IG BCE ), explained: “We wanted to express our opinion peacefully, but we are prevented from doing so by illegal actions such as 'Endegebiet'. That is not acceptable. "

After the action, RWE Power rejected the criticism of the form and extent of the cooperation between RWE factory security and the police against the demonstrators. The aim of the RWE strategy was to ensure "the safety of everyone involved".

Debate in the state parliament and criticism of the police operation and RWE factory security

RWE as the operator of the lignite mines in the Rhineland, according to research by the WDR, “ decided early on to take a hard line towards the announced actions in Garzweiler.” Prior to the action, the police had suggested that operations in the open-cast mine should be suspended on the protest weekend but RWE Power refused. The police contradicted the representation of the WDR; there was no such recommendation from the police.

Media representatives reported that their work had been hindered. The editors of the info site klimaretter.info and the daily newspaper Neues Deutschland lodged a complaint with the police about interference with the freedom of the press . The police rejected the allegations and in turn criticized the media representatives.

It has been criticized on various occasions that police officers from the NRW police force were driven into the pit by the private company security guard in off-road vehicles. The police stated that the legal basis for this procedure is the North Rhine-Westphalian Police Act.

The Left Party in North Rhine-Westphalia protested against “disproportionate measures by the police”. The left-politician Marco Boehme (Landtag Saxony), Michael Aggelidis (State Executive NRW), Andrej Hunko (MP) and Hubertus Zdebel (MP) were as parliamentary observers at the end of terrain there. In a joint statement, they criticized “the extremely harsh police operation, which also included batons and pepper spray. We observed the course of the actions at various points and witnessed a sometimes disproportionate and completely inadequate police operation. Some police officers were not satisfied with holding the chain and preventing demonstrators from crossing the chain, but instead used pepper spray or beat individual demonstrators with batons. We will accordingly lodge a complaint against the police units involved. "

Mona Bricke, spokeswoman for the “Endegebiet” alliance, also criticized the police's actions, who attacked peaceful demonstrators with batons and pepper spray.

The parliamentary groups of the B90 / Greens, the Left and the Pirate Party in the Düsseldorf state parliament demanded clarification of the criticism of the police operation at Endegebiet . The pirate parliamentary group submitted an application to be dealt with in the interior committee, and on August 27, 2015 this state parliament committee dealt with the police operation and the cooperation between the police and RWE.

The CDU and SPD demanded, according to the WDR's reporting, that the latter should abide by state law and not be allowed to justify “peaceful crimes”. The state police inspector Bernd Heinen justified the sometimes harsh treatment of journalists during the action with the fact that there was no public interest in what was happening.

Reactions from the region

According to the daily newspaper , the action met with a divided response in the region.

7,600 people from twelve localities had to be resettled for the Garzweiler opencast mine by 2015. The resettlement has been decided for the residents of five other places in the Erkelenz area with another 1,600 people. In one of the villages that will disappear in the future, Immerath , a demonstration with around 800 participants took place parallel to the occupation of the mine , including some residents of the region. Some of the people from the affected areas do not oppose the resettlement because they are compensated by the RWE Group. The destroyed villages will be rebuilt elsewhere by RWE as communities that belong together.

Legal processing

From the response of the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia of August 2, 2017 to a small request, it can be seen that a total of 578 investigations were pending with the Mönchengladbach public prosecutor in connection with the “Climate Camp 2015” at the Garzweiler opencast mine. 355 proceedings are directed against unknown persons. The personal details of the accused were determined in 223 preliminary proceedings. As of the end of March, according to a report by the Chief Public Prosecutor in Mönchengladbach, 54 of these proceedings had been dropped before charges were brought. After the prosecution brought charges, another 18 proceedings were discontinued with the approval of the local court. Three activists were acquitted because the activists could not pose a specific risk to the life and limb of other people or other people's property of significant value on a closed motorway. This corresponds to the established case law of the Federal Court of Justice. Another 4 activists were acquitted, because an opencast mine did not meet the criteria of trespassing due to a lack of continuous fencing . Further acquittals are to be expected.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Lignite opponents occupy excavators from the Garzweiler opencast mine , Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, August 15, 2015, sighted on January 16, 2016.
2. ↑ Quote from the end of the terrain. 'End of story, nothing to add!' for coal & capitalism - stop the coal excavators in the Rhineland in August , Interventionist Left. Viewed January 16, 2016.
3. ^ Coal protests: Discussions about police operations in opencast mines - WiWo Green. In: WiWo Green. Retrieved April 8, 2016 . 
4. ↑ Politics pinches the Garzweiler police operation. In: klimaretter.info. Retrieved May 9, 2018 . 
5. ^ POL-DN: Use at the Garzweiler opencast mine: Police emphasize their neutrality. In: presseportal.de. Retrieved April 8, 2016 . 
6. ↑ Climate camp by environmentalists: Lignite opponents invaded the open-cast mining area , WDR, August 15, 2015, sighted on January 16, 2016.
7. ↑ Environmentalists occupy excavators , Frankfurter Rundschau, August 15, 2015, viewed on January 16, 2016.
8. ↑ ^{a b} RWE opencast mine Garzweiler blocked: Resistance in the moonscape , taz, August 16, 2015, seen on January 16, 2016.
9. ^ RWE actions against demonstrators - "Inappropriate and absurd" , tagesschau.de, August 16, 2015, viewed on January 16, 2016.
10. ^ ^{A b c} Coal riots: RWE employees appalled , Rheinische Post, August 17, 2015, viewed January 18, 2016.
11. ↑ ^{a b c} Jürgen Döschner: Garzweiler - no de-escalation strategy: Close cooperation between RWE and the police ( memento from January 19, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) , WDR, August 19, 2015, viewed January 18, 2016.
12. ↑ ^{a b c} POL-DN: Operation at the Garzweiler opencast mine: Police emphasize their neutrality. Press release from the Düren police. August 19, 2015, accessed January 20, 2016 . 
13. ↑ Police used tear gas against a journalist , Neues Deutschland, August 17, 2015, sighted January 16, 2016.
14. ↑ Left MPs and members of the board of directors sharply criticize the police operation and chumbling with RWE ( memento from January 16, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) , Linke NRW, August 17, 2015, viewed on January 16, 2016.
15. ↑ Quoted from a press release from Endeände, Düsseldorf, September 24, 2015: State government refuses to consistently deal with the police operation at “Endegebiet” in the Interior Committee. Freedom of the press of the public media massively addressed. Interior Minister Jäger is silent.
16. ↑ Criminal proceedings and findings on the incidents of the "Climate Camp" 2015. Accessed on August 17, 2017 . 
17. ↑ Trespassing: court acquits opponents of opencast mining . In: Westdeutsche Zeitung . May 10, 2017 ( wz.de [accessed August 17, 2017]).