Protesters take on Germany's coal industry
Ende Gelände, a loose environmental group, led civil disobedience protests against the coal industry. The group is known for blockading coal infrastructure.
Growth vs. environment
The so-called "Gold Finger" Ende Gelände group marches across a field against a backdrop of the Neurath and Frimmersdorf lignite power plants pumping smoke into the atmosphere.
Donned in white
A protester wearing a mock hazmat suit and carrying a bag of hay prepares to set off from the Bedburg base. The march to the coal carrying rail line takes about three hours.
Club wielding police
Protesters break through the first police blockade. "Many police behave well, others not so much," said Milan Schwarze, an Ende Gelände organizer. DW witnessed police hitting several protesters with batons at this first road blockade.
Slogans
On their way to the rail lines, protesters were chanting slogans such as "We are unstoppable, another world is possible" and "Keep it, keep it in the ground, keep it, keep it in the ground."
Decoalinization
Protesters came from Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, the Czech Republic, Belgium, the United Kingdom and other European countries. Many had joined Ende Gelände protests in previous years.
Contrasts
Protesters from the "Blue finger" Ende Gelände group march towards the Niederaussem coal-fired power plant, seen spewing out smoke in the distance.
Scuffles
Protesters run past a line of police attempting to block them from crossing a potato field leading to the rail tracks.
Outnumbered
Protesters scuttle across a potato field to escape police. Minutes later, they are met by a much larger police presence near the rail line.
Injured
A protester lies on the ground after being hit by a baton wielding police in the leg. Another man calls for the medic team that accompanied Ende Gelände.
Corralled
Police corral about 150 protesters who did not make onto the rail tracks. Activists then sat in the baking sun for several hours surrounded by police until they were herded onto buses and taken to a police holding center.
Carried away one-by-one
Police carry a protester to a police bus. As an act of civil disobedience, many protesters refusing to go voluntarily to police buses were forcefully dragged away by police.
Rail line
Three groups of protesters, each of about 70 people, block the rail line carrying lignite. The action lasted six hours until police were able to remove and transport the protesters.
Parliamentary observers
Julia Verlinden, a member of the Bundestag for Green Party, observes protesters and police. The Left Party also sent parliamentary observers.
Trains haul protesters away
Protesters on the tracks were taken away by a RWE railcar. Police said the protesters needed to be transported by railcar because it would be too dangerous to drag them down the steep embankment that they had climbed to reach the tracks.
Civil disobedience
Police carry away a protester who refused to leave voluntarily. Many of the protesters on the tracks had to be carried away. This protester tactic slows down police and keeps the rail line closed longer.