Thousands of climate activists enter coal mines and block coal railways to power plant
Cottbus | Chóśebuz, 30 november 2019. Currently, several action groups from international climate justice movement Ende Gelaende (“Here And No Further”) are blocking various points of coal infrastructure in the Lusatian and Leipzig areas. At 8am, around 500 climate activists arrived simultaneously at the Jaenschwalde Ost open-cast mine and 450 at a coal railway connected to the Jaenschwalde power station. The Jaenschwalde power station is known as one of the most climate-damaging power stations in Europe. The Jaenschwalde open-cast mine has been in safety operation since 1rd September 2019 due to serious failures to comply with environmental legislation. At 9am, over a thousand activists more arrived at Welzow-Süd (Lausitz) and Vereinigtes Schleenhain (Leipzig area) open-cast mines.
“Because LEAG has still not submitted an environmental impact assessment, the Jaenschwalde open-cast mine is currently in safety operation. But coal-fired power is never environmentally friendly! With today’s protest we show that this open-cast mine must be shut down permanently,” confirms Johnny Parks, spokesperson of Ende Gelaende.
“We demand a structural change in Lusatia that is rapid and socially responsible. The urgently needed coal phase-out must not be implemented to the detriment of the employees. We worry that the billions dedicated to the region’s structural change will not be used for a renewable future, but to gild the coal companies’ coal phase-out. The money must go to the benefit of the region and the people living there,” says Sina Reisch, spokesperson of Ende Gelaende.
Since 2015, Ende Gelaende has repeatedly blocked coal infrastructure with thousands of people in the Rhineland and Lusatia regions. In the summer of 2019, more than 6,000 activists occupied central junctions of the Rhineland lignite mining area. During those most recent blockades, the railway supply to Neurath power station, Germany’s largest lignite fired power station, stood still for almost 48 hours. Traditionally, people from all over Europe take part in the actions of Ende Gelaende.
Press contacts:
Sina Reisch: +49 177 967 68 05
Johnny Parks: +49 151 63 174 002
Nike Mahlhaus: +49 151 413 745 27
presse@ende-gelaende.org | www.ende-gelaende.org
Twitter: @Ende__Gelaende | Flickr: endegelaende