Climate activists block railway tracks to protest coal-mining in Germany

BERLIN (AA) - Climate activists blocked railway tracks in northwestern Germany on Tuesday to protest coal mining plans in the region.

Dozens of climate activists chained themselves to the tracks leading to the lignite-fired power plant Neurath, owned by the energy company RWE.

"The #Neurath coal-fired power plant (one of the biggest CO2 polluters in Europe) is blocked. We occupy the railroad tracks forever," the activists said on Twitter.

Dozens of other activists occupied an excavator on the site of the Inden open-cast lignite mine in the early hours of the morning.

"Every ton of coal mined here further fuels the climate crisis - with catastrophic consequences. We take climate justice into our own hands and stop the excavator and the conveyor belt," it said on social media.

A large demonstration also took place near the village of Lutzerath, which was forcibly evicted by police last week to expand a nearby coal mine.

A spokesman for the environmental group Ende Gelande, which organized Tuesday's demonstration, said climate activists would continue their civil disobedience actions to stop coal mining in the region.

"Even if you destroy Lutzerath, we will continue to fight," Charly Dietz said in a statement, calling for an end to coal mining and fossil fuel use.

"Lutzerath represents everything that is wrong with fossil capitalism," said Luka Scott, another climate activist.

"Politicians make anti-democratic deals with corporations like RWE and then enforce them with police violence," she added.

Lutzerath was occupied by coal opponents for two years and became a symbol for environmental groups calling for an end to the use of coal and fossil fuels.

Last week, energy company RWE began demolishing buildings in the abandoned village to expand the Garzweiler coal mine.

The company said in a statement that the coal under Lutzerath is needed to "make the best use” of the lignite fleet during the energy crisis.

Under an agreement between the government and RWE, the company will bring forward its coal phase-out by eight years and end lignite-fired power generation by 2030.