We have just finished Ende Gelände’s action which, for the fifth year in a row, is being carried out in Germany through a great civil disobedience action. Its purpose is to denounce the urgency of putting an end to the use of fossil fuels.
After the various meetings and trainings that took place in the temporary camp installed near the RWE mine, finally on Friday, June 21, 4,000 activists left the camp in Viersen to block the mining fields in Rhineland. While this was happening, the movement Fridays For Future organized school stoppages and protests in favor of the environment, being its central event a demonstration in Aachen, in which more than 40,000 students from 16 countries participated.
Throughout this day, activists managed to stop the supply of coal from the thermal power plants of Neurath and Niederaussen, the largest in Germany, blocking the train tracks that provide them with the fossil fuel. This lasted more than 48 hours, since the group of activists who interrupted the transit of trains to the power plants resisted from Friday morning until the afternoon of Sunday, June 23.
On the other hand, on Saturday 22, activists went to Garzweiller in order to block one of the mines of the largest lignite mining area in Europe, which is owned by the company RWE and supplies its coal to the power plants of the Rhineland. At the same time all these actions were taking place, 8,000 people formed a demonstration called by civil society organizations in solidarity with the populations affected by the mining activity.
Despite the obstacles placed by the authorities, with a clear violation of the legal framework and respect for civil rights by the German police, the actions served, one more year, to make visible the need, not only to slow down the use of fossil energies, but to abandon once and for all neoliberal policies in favor of a system that is built respecting the rights of people and the planet.
Thus, after the action of Ende Gelände, we continue the journey with eyes set on the next stage that will lead us to Portugal from July 17 to 21 in Leiría, where Camp in Gás will take place. This camp will gather activists from different parts of Europe, and is part of a medium-term escalation strategy in accordance with the climate emergency and social mobilization. We are unstoppable, another world is possible and necessary!!
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2000 ACTIVISTS TO BLOCK GARZWEILER MINE