In January 2019, the German Commission on Growth, Structural Change and Employment recommended in its final report that coal should be completely phased out as a power source in Germany by 2038, which was criticized by both scientists, such as Commissioner Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, and environmental organizations as inadequate to prevent global warming from reaching an irreversible tipping point. In February 2019, the climate protection report 2018 was published, according to which Germany was forecast to miss the self-imposed climate protection targets for 2020. On June 20, 2019, the then-heads of state and government of the EU could not agree on neutrality by 2050, because Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic objected to it. The youth climate movementFridays for Future Deutschland called for an international protest event for climate protection in Aachen on the June 21, 2019, which drew 40000 people from 17 countries. It was assumed that participants in the Fridays for Future demonstration would also participate in actions of Ende Gelände. In advance, the police had warned of an instrumentalization of Fridays for Future by Ende Gelände 2019, which was seen by many as a "deliberate attempt to divide the movement," but instead it led to public statements of solidarization of Fridays for Future with Ende Gelände, stating that civil disobedience was a legitimate form of protest to save the future, but, in the demonstration on June 22, 2019 in Hochneukirch/Jüchen in the direct neighbourhood of the open-pit mine, that Fridays for Future would remain on the legal side.
Activities
On Friday, June 21, 2019 the Ende Gelände 2019 activities began with a blockade of the North-South train connection between the Garzweileropen pit mine and the Neurath power station. On Saturday, June 22, 2019, blockades of the Hambach track and occupations of the open pit mine took place, causing RWE to power down four of six power plants. Meanwhile, a Fridays for Future demonstration was held on June 22, 2019 on the edge of the open pit mine and near Keyenberg, a village scheduled for dredging for open pit mining in the near future. According to the organizers, this event drew some 8000 people. Die Zeit] reported that the blockade of the Hambach industrial track ended on the morning of June 23, 2019. It was followed by the occupation of the Garzweiler II open pit mine at noon. The railway line to the Neurath power plant was not cleared at this time. Mid-day, Ende Gelände 2019 issued a press release stating that the blockade had ended. More than activists participated in the protests. Police violence was reported in connection with the protests. Police officers used batons and pepper spray injuring activists so intensely that they had to be treated in hospitals. The injuries included a basilar skull fracture. The police said they would take the allegations seriously and investigate accordingly. In addition, participants were prevented from freely leaving the train stations in Hochneukirch and Viersen, for up to 13 hours, due to what the police called "capacity issues". The police reported eight injured police officers, probably due to falls while trying to stop protesters. After Ende Gelände had already stopped its activities at the Garzweiler open-pit mine, at 5 am on Monday, June 24, 2019, another group blocked the Hambach industrial spur and seven women occupied an excavator at the Hambach open-pit lignite mine until midday.
On Friday, the 29 November 2019, protesters again demanded more climate protection during the fourth global climate strike. In Germany, about people participated in this event. On Saturday, several thousand activists from Brandenburg and Saxony started blockades in the open pit mines, and United Schleenhain. Fridays for Future and the initiative Alle Dörfer bleiben supported the activities. As planned, after several hours the activists stopped the blockades in the afternoon. According to the police, three policemen were lightly injured, otherwise the protests remained peaceful despite threats of violence from right-wing extremists in the days before the event.
