Pro-coal protesters besiege private home of German coal commission member

About 100 members of coal miner labour union IG BCE held a demonstration in front of the private home of anti-coal mining acitivist Antje Grothus, who also is a member of Germany’s coal exit commission, newspaper Die Welt reports. Grothus, who heads a civil society organisation that wants to prevent the demolition of villages that stand in the way of coal mines in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, said she felt “threatened” by the group of protesters that shouted slogans against her and reportedly also knocked on her home’s windows before police intervened and sent the protesters away. The IG BCE later condemned the actions of some of its members, saying the protest in front of Grothus’s house had neither been officially registered nor planned. “We believe this form of protest is wrong and distance ourselves from attacking others personally,” the labour union said in a statement on Twitter. IG BCE head Michael Vassiliadis, himself a member of the coal exit commission, wrote Grothus a letter in which he said this kind of “intimidation” was not in accordance “with our idea of settling political differences in a democracy.”

Find the article in German here.

Find background in the article Commission watch – Managing Germany’s coal phase-out.