These striking images show enormous machinery dwarfing protesters campaigning against a huge open-cast coal mine in Germany.
Hundreds of demonstrators dressed in white painters’ suits flooded the construction site and daringly climbed into the open pit that is being dug by workers.
Behind the crowd, heavy machinery laden with metal blades loomed menacingly as two excavators and a conveyor belt were halted at Garzweiler, which is north west of the city of Cologne.
Hundreds of demonstrators dressed in white painters’ suits flooded the construction site
Police were forced to intervene when the protesters attempted to occupy one of the excavators on the site
Heavy machinery laden with metal blades loomed menacingly as two excavators and a conveyor belt were halted
Some of the demonstrators waved banners reading ‘system change not climate change’ and ‘kohle stoppen’ – which predictable means ‘stop coal’
The activists sat in the mud singing and shouting as they celebrated their blockade of the pit
Open-cast coal mining is controversial because it requires an enormous quarry in the ground rather than a mere small hole for workers to enter through.
Police were forced to step in after activists attempted to occupy one of the enormous excavators which is tearing a large mine into the ground.
The activists sat in the mud singing and shouting as they celebrated their blockade of the pit – but the mine operator was still able to continue work.
Dorothee Haubermann, a spokeswoman for the campaign group, said: ‘It should not be legal to mine villages and forests and to fuel climate change by burning coal’
There were two injuries at the protest – a demonstrator who was hit by a horse and a policeman who suffered a broken hand because of the ‘resistance of an activist
Police officers are pictured stopping an activist from getting near one of the excavators at the mining site
Some of the demonstrators waved banners reading ‘system change not climate change’ and ‘kohle stoppen’ – which predictable means ‘stop coal’.
Dorothee Haubermann, a spokeswoman for the campaign group, said: ‘It should not be legal to mine villages and forests and to fuel climate change by burning coal.
‘If the laws protect the destruction of livelihoods, then we must override them.’
Open-cast coal mining is controversial because it requires an enormous quarry in the ground rather than a mere small hole for workers to enter through
The demonstrators are unhappy at the environmental impact of the open-cast coal mine on the area, which is north west of the city of Cologne
Many of the white-suited protesters waved flags or carried signs as they stood in unison
However despite the demonstration the mine operator is said to have been able to continue with work at the site
There were two injuries at the protest – a demonstrator who was hit by a horse and a policeman who suffered a broken hand because of the ‘resistance of an activist’
Ambulances rushed to the scene but the campaigner refused treatment.