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Press Release 28 Oct 2018
Düren-Stepprath, 28 October 2018
About 2,000 people continue to occupy the coal tracks of the utility RWE in the Rhineland coalfield near Cologne. Yesterday, 6,500 activists took part in a huge action of civil disobedience for an immediate coal-phase and climate justice. Yesterday, at 1.30 pm, several thousands people managed to access the train tracks. Despite the cold, a large part of them have been holding out there over night. The police did not allow support groups to supply activist with food and water.
The private train tracks are a crucial supply line. Usually, trains run several times per hour to carry lignite from the open-cast mines to RWE’s power plants (about 9000 tons/h).
„We are sitting at a very sensitive spot of RWE’s mining operations“, says Karolina Drzewo, spokesperson of Ende Gelände. „Since yesterday, not a single gram of lignite has left Europe’s biggest coal pit. If the government blocks climate protection, we must take coal phase-out into our own hands.“
„You cannot evict our protest, you cannot ignore our voices“, says Selma Richter, spokesperson of Ende Gelände. This summer of heat waves and water shortages made us feel directly the threat of climate change. But we are not only fighting for our own future, we are also fighting for the livelihoods of people in the global South who are most impacted by climate change.“
Ende Gelände is a grassroots network of different social movements and local climate groups. They have organized mass actions of civil disobedience with many thousands people since 2015.
Karolina Drzewo: 0049 152 04560800
Selma Richter: 0049 157 87414171