Climate campaigner Greta Thunberg was detained alongside other activists Jan. 17 during protests of the demolition of a village to make way for a coal mine expansion, but she was released after an identity check, according to police. Thunberg was amongst hundreds of people who resumed anti-mining protests at multiple locations in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia a day after the last two climate activists holed up in a tunnel beneath the village of Luetzerath left the site. The German government reached a deal with energy company RWE last year allowing it to destroy the village in return for ending coal use by 2030, rather than 2038. Both argue the coal is needed to ensure Germany’s energy security, which is squeezed by the cut in supply of Russian gas due to the war in Ukraine. But the environmentalists say bulldozing Luetzerath will result in vast greenhouse gas emissions. Germany is expected to miss its ambitious climate targets for the second year in a row. Activists have said Germany should not be mining anymore lignite, or brown coal,and should focus on expanding renewable energy instead. Riot police backed by bulldozers removed activists from buildings and in the abandoned village, but protestors including Thunberg remained at the site, staging a sit-on into Jan.17. The 20-year-old Swedish climate activist addressed some 6,000 protesters who marched toward Luetzerath on Jan.14, calling the mine expansion a “betrayal of present and future generations.”

“Germany is one of the biggest polluters in the world and needs to be held accountable,” Thunberg said.

　ロシアのウクライナへの軍事侵攻を受けて、ドイツはロシアへのエネルギー依存から脱去するため、石炭火力発電を一時的に拡大しています。しかし、温室効果ガスの排出増加につながるとして論争になり、西部の炭鉱では政府に対する抗議活動が続けられています。スウェーデンの環境活動家、グレタ・トゥンベリさんもデモに参戦し、警察に一時拘束される事態となりました。