Climate campaigner Greta Thunberg was hauled away and briefly detained alongside other activists on Tuesday during protests near a German village which is set to be demolished to make way for a coal mine expansion. The Swedish activist has since been released after an identity check, according to police.
Thunberg was held while protesting at the opencast coal mine of Garzweiler 2, some 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) from the village of Luetzerath, after police warned that the group would be removed by force if they did not move from the edge of the mine.
The village in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia is being cleared to allow for the expansion of the mine. The mine's owner, RWE, agreed with the government that it could demolish Luetzerath in exchange for its faster exit from coal and saving five villages originally slated for destruction.
Activists have said Germany should not be mining any more lignite, or brown coal, and focus on expanding renewable energy instead.
Riot police backed by bulldozers removed activists from buildings in the abandoned village last week, with only a few left in trees and an underground tunnel by last weekend. But protesters including Thunberg remained at the site staging a sit-in into Tuesday.
"We are going to use force to bring you to the identity check, so please cooperate," a policeman said to the group, as evident in Reuters footage.
"Greta Thunberg was part of a group of activists who rushed towards the ledge. However, she was then stopped and carried by us with this group out of the immediate danger area to establish their identity," a spokesperson for Aachen police told Reuters, adding that one activist had jumped into the mine.
Thunberg was carried away by three police officers and held by one arm at a spot away from the edge of the mine and then escorted back towards police vans.
The Swedish climate activist addressed around 6,000 protesters who marched towards Luetzerath on Saturday, calling the expansion of the mine a "betrayal of present and future generations. Germany is one of the biggest polluters in the world and needs to be held accountable," she said.
After being released she tweeted, "Yesterday I was a part of a group that peacefully protested the expansion of a coal mine in Germany. We were kettled by police and then detained, but were let go later that evening. Climate protection is not a crime."
