Story by News Editor Ellie Youngs

Greta Thunberg, an environmental activist, was detained for the second time at a protest in Germany on Tuesday, January 17. 

Thunberg, along with several other environmental activists, led a protest to stop the demolition of the abandoned German town, Lützerath. This is the second time Thunberg has been detained at the site of a protest. She and the other protesters broke through police barriers and established their presence at the opening of a coal mine just a few miles outside the town. These protests had lasted all through the previous weekend and thousands of activists made their efforts known to stop the expansion of the Garzweiler lignite coal mine, which would encroach on and destroy the city. 

Thunberg utilized her large social media platform and took to twitter to encourage more people to show up to Luetzerath to protest the expansion of the coal mine:

Since the previous Wednesday, police have detained and removed hundreds of activists from Luetzerath. Some of these activists had been there for the better part of two years living in homes that were abandoned by previous residents who were evicted to make way for the new coal mine. The expansion of this coal mine holds a lot of significance; continuing to use coal as a source of energy will only further exacerbate the climate crisis, and activists at the site have pointed out that it would also violate the Paris Climate Agreement to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels. 

Thunberg was detained by police after refusing to move from the coal mine Garzweiler II, after police had warned protesters to leave the site, or they would be removed. After a few hours in custody, Thunberg and other activists detained during this protest were released.