BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - The Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND) has called for an immediate end to the police action in Lützerath and a moratorium on evictions. "The state government in North Rhine-Westphalia and its green economy minister Mona Neubaur must finally realize that they have lost their way politically," BUND chairman Olaf Bandt said Wednesday. He added that the protests against the eviction showed that "continuing with open-cast lignite mining is no longer acceptable, especially to young people."

In addition, the managing director of BUND North Rhine-Westphalia, Dirk Jansen, stressed that "the coal under Lützerath is not needed to cope with the current energy crisis." He added that it was therefore a political decision whether the clearance would still be stopped. BUND is defending itself against all attempts to "criminalize legitimate and peaceful protest against lignite insanity in general." All sides were called upon to focus on de-escalation.

The economics ministries led by the Greens in the federal government and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia had agreed with the energy company RWE on a coal phase-out brought forward to 2030. In addition, five already largely empty villages at the Garzweiler open pit mine in the neighborhood of Lützerath are to be preserved. Climate activists who want to oppose the eviction have been living in the empty houses there for months./xil/DP/jha