Greta Thunberg detained in Germany over coal mine protest

Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg was detained by the German police on Tuesday for participating in a coal mine protest in a village in Lutzerath.
Thunberg was participating in the protest to stop authorities from demolishing the village for the coal mine’s expansion.
Police representative Christof Huls while speaking to CNN, said that Thunberg was part of a large group of protesters who had broken through the police barrier and had settled around a coal pit. Huls further elaborated that police were concerned that the mass of protesters could set the ground in motion after it had been softened by rainfall in the last few days, leading to the detention of the protestors.

‘We knew who she was, but she did not get VIP treatment,’ Huls said.

Police also said that the activists detained would be released later in the day.

Thunberg had joined thousands of climate activists in Germany against the demolishing of a village in order to make way for the Garzweiler lignite coal mine, which is owned by the European multi-national corporation RWE. Climate activists had argued that the expansion of the coal mine will increase planet-warming emissions and violate the Paris Climate Agreement’s promise to bring the global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Thunberg had addressed the activists on Saturday, saying that their fight to save the planet was not over as long as people keep prioritizing short term economic growth and corporate greed.
“We need to stop the current destruction of our planet and sacrificing people to benefit the short-term economic growth and corporate greed,” she said.