Protesters Storm Open-Pit Coal Mine in Western Germany

Pro­tes­tors look at a huge buck­et-wheel exca­va­tor as they arrive for a demon­stra­tion at the open-pit coal mine near Garzweil­er

Pro­tes­tors look at a huge buck­et-wheel exca­va­tor as they arrive for a demon­stra­tion at the open-pit coal mine near Garzweil­er, west­ern Ger­many Sat­ur­day Aug. 15, 2015. Sev­er­al hun­dred envi­ron­men­tal activists have stormed a lig­nite mine in west­ern Ger­many to protest against the use of coal for elec­tric­i­ty pro­duc­tion. dpa via AP Mar­ius Beck­er

August 15th, 2015

Envi­ron­men­tal activists have stormed a lig­nite mine in west­ern Ger­many to protest the use of coal, a major source of green­house gas­es.

The Ger­man news agency dpa reports that sev­er­al hun­dred peo­ple from a group call­ing itself Ende Gelande — which loose­ly trans­lates as “it’s fin­ished now” — broke through a police line in Garzweil­er, west of Cologne.

Police spokesman Anton Hamach­er says offi­cers used pep­per spray to stop the crowd and are remov­ing pro­test­ers from the site.

A spokesman for Ger­man ener­gy com­pa­ny RWE says sev­er­al huge buck­et-wheel exca­va­tors used at the open-pit mine had to be shut down for safe­ty rea­sons. Spokesman Lothar Lam­bertz says RWE has can­celed plans to bring employ­ees onto the site to ral­ly in favor of coal min­ing.

from Asso­ci­at­ed Press