A year ago, the Lützerath settlement in the lignite mining area was evacuated. Then there were riots. Almost 600 crimes were registered. Now the police are taking stock.
Düsseldorf – A year after the riots in the brown coal area around Lützerath, the police have solved around one in four of the almost 600 registered crimes. This was announced by the NRW Interior Ministry. Thousands of videos and photos with a total of 3.4 terabytes of data were evaluated.
However, in many cases this has not yet resulted in the name of a suspect being identified. The crimes could often only have been assigned to faces. It is assumed that further suspects can be identified through public searches.
An investigative commission of around 30 people spent a year trying to identify the criminals, who were mostly hooded. The investigators also used facial recognition software.
Fine for punching
So far, after the riots on January 14, 2023, when numerous criminal offenses occurred during a large demonstration, the public prosecutor's office in Mönchengladbach announced: A man from Erlangen was sentenced to a fine of 5,400 euros for punching a police officer been. In eight other cases there are charges or penal orders that have not yet been legally binding against activists.
The investigation also resulted in criminal orders or charges against two police officers. Of 32 criminal cases against police officers, 21 were dropped.
Large-scale police operation
3,700 police officers from across Germany were deployed to clear the Lützerath settlement. Police officers were attacked with iron bars and burning Molotov cocktails. On January 14th last year, around 1,000 activists broke through police lines and approached the settlement and the edge of the mine.
“Among the climate protectors there were also radical climate chaotics who preferred violent protests and clashes with the police to peaceful demonstrations,” said North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU).
74 percent were suspects from outside North Rhine-Westphalia. They are part of the nationwide, left-wing extremist scene. dpa
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