The hundreds of road blockades by activists of the “Last Generation” in the bigger cities over the last few months being one aspect of the broadening radicalization of parts of the climate issue movement, the massive inflow of activists coming to a peak with 15,000 protesting against the planned lignite mining project at Lützerath in western Germany is the other aspect to be monitored closely. Individual groups of the activists occupied baggers and other equipment. Police had to be deployed massively to remove protesters, who were hyped up by the appearance of Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and her close collaborator in Germany Luisa Neubauer of the Fridays4Future movement.
The entire action, which has lasted for three weeks, has also been a favorite item on the news of the mainstream media, featuring interviews with many of the activists. The disproportionate coverage of their protest against lignite mining is worth particular mention if compared with the striking disinterest of the media in covering critics of the western role in the Ukraine war.
