独警察、グレタさんを一時拘束 炭鉱開発反対デモで

【ベルリンＡＦＰ＝時事】スウェーデンの環境活動家、グレタ・トゥンベリさんが１７日、ドイツ西部のリュッツェラート村で行われていた炭鉱開発反対デモに参加中、警察に身柄を一時拘束された。（写真はグレタさん）
　リュッツェラートは、炭鉱の拡張のため消滅することになっている。現地からの映像には、グレタさんがヘルメットをかぶった複数の警察官に抱え上げられ、待機していたバスに連行される様子が捉えられている。グレタさんは笑顔を浮かべていた。
　警察によると、グレタさんら一部の活動家は、デモを離れて露天掘り炭鉱に向かって走りだしたことから身柄を拘束された。バスで「危険地帯」から連れ出されて身元を確認された後、解放された。正式な逮捕には至っていないという。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/01/18-13:49）

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was hauled away and briefly detained on Tuesday during a protest near a German village being razed to make way for a coal mine expansion, police said.
Thunberg has been in Germany for several days to support protests against the demolition of Luetzerath, which have become a symbol of resistance against fossil fuels.
Images showed the activist, smiling and dressed in black, being picked up by police officers wearing helmets and then escorted to a waiting bus.
Police said a group of activists were detained after having broken away from the demonstration, and run towards the edge of the open-cast coal mine.
They were taken away from the danger zone by bus, their identities were checked, and then they were released, a spokesman said.
The process took several hours as there were a large number of protesters, he said, without giving a precise figure.
The activists were not formally arrested, police said.
On Saturday, Thunberg joined thousands of demonstrators in a large-scale protest against the demolition of the hamlet, marching at the front of a procession.
She said it was shameful that the German government was making deals and compromises with fossil fuel companies.
On Monday, the last two climate activists occupying the hamlet to stop it from being razed left their underground hideout, marking the end of the police operation to evict them.
Around 300 activists had occupied the village, staking out emptied buildings and constructing positions in the trees, to try to prevent the expansion of the adjacent Garzweiler open-cast coal mine.
- 'Stop coal' -
Luetzerath has been deserted for some time by its original inhabitants, as plans move forward to expand the open-cast mine, one of the largest in Europe, operated by energy firm RWE.
Police launched an operation last week to clear the protest camp, making quicker progress than expected, and by Sunday had succeeded in removing all but the last two, holed up in a self-built tunnel under the settlement.
The end of the operation came despite Saturday's demonstration, which was attended by thousands, with protesters holding banners with slogans including Stop coal and Luetzerath lives!
Protest planners accused authorities of violence after clashes between police and participants, which resulted in injuries on both sides.
RWE has permission for the expansion of the mine under a compromise agreement signed with the government, led by Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Under the deal agreed in October, Luetzerath will be demolished, while five neighbouring villages are spared.
At the same time, RWE also agreed to stop producing electricity with coal in western Germany by 2030 -- eight years earlier than planned.
With Russia's gas supply cut in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine, Germany has fallen back on coal, firing up mothballed power plants.
The extension to the mine is deemed necessary to secure Germany's future energy supply.
But activists argue extracting the coal will mean Germany misses targets under the key Paris climate agreements.