A protest led by Greta Thunberg in Germany ends in conflict

Hundreds of armed men clashed with police after trying to storm restricted mine areas in the west of the country.

INA FASSBENDER/AFPGreta Thunberg was a symbolic leader of the German protest against the expansion of an open-pit coal mine.

Police and protesters clashed on Saturday, the 14th, during a protest attended by the environmental activist Greta ThunbergAgainst the expansion of the open-pit coal mine at Lützerath, in West Germany. The organizers said that the demonstration, which brought together about 35,000 people, tried hundreds of gunmen to enter restricted areas of the lignite mine located in the west of the country. The police even took to Twitter to tell people to “leave this area immediately!” Clashes took place between groups of demonstrators and the police, who were thrown flares and other devices. In the televised images, a line of agents in augmented equipment such as helmets and shields protected the banks of a deep trench the operatives were approaching. Security forces also protected access to the municipality of Lutzerat, besieged by bars and occupied by dozens of demonstrators who have been evacuated by the police since the beginning of the demonstrations. The protest was organized in support of the activists who had occupied the abandoned site, symbolically led by Thunberg.

* With information from AFP