Stepprath, 25 October 2018

The climate justice alliance Ende Gelände has started to build a protest camp in Stepprath, Stockheimer Landstrasse 171 in the Rhineland, Germany. Several thousand activists are expected to arrive today and tomorrow for what might become the biggest action of civil disobedience against coal the Rhineland has ever seen. The camp offers space for around 4,000 people and is located on private ground.

“We have negotiated for weeks to find a suitable place for our camp . The police protects RWE so they can continue destroying land and our climate, and at the same time they out obstacles in the way of our legitimate protest for climate justice. We are now building up a camp to offer activists a safe starting point for the Ende Gelände action”, says Karoline Drzewo, spokesperson of Ende Gelände.

A camp which Ende Gelände had constructed yesterday on a former sports ground in Manheim was cleared last night by the police and RWE employees. The police confiscated a big circus tent and other large tents. Meanwhile, RWE started digging trenches across all flat surfaces in Manheim to prevent activists from pitching their tents. Manheim is a small village near Cologne which is scheduled to be demolished for the extension of the open-cast coal mine.

“This evacuation in the middle of the night is a massive escalation on behalf of the police. RWE’s attempt to destroys entire Manheim in an absurd undertaking. We, in contrast, are building a beautiful and meaningful place – a place for climate justice”, states Karolina Drzewo.

Ende Gelände will block coal infrastructure around the open-pit mine Hambach, Rhineland, to protest for global climate justice and the immediate coal phase-out. On Friday, 26 October at 11.30am we offer you a public action training at the camp in Stepprath, where you can take pictures and film. Afterwards, at 12.15 pm, we invite you to an action briefing which is especially important for those journalists who accompany activists into the action.

Contact:
presse@ende-gelaende.org

Karolina Drzewo: 0049 152 04560800
Selma Richter: 0049 157 87414171