Germany: Climate activists protest against launch of coal power plant

M/S Rally participants lying on bridge on ground, Datteln
W/S Rally participants holding banner and chanting slogans
M/S Rally participants holding banner
SOT, Lisa Neubauer, Fridays for Future activist (German): "That we stand here today is not a sign of defeat, not a sign of resistance. To put it correctly, the government and UNIPER have sparked a protest today, a protest between a despondent, between an insecure, between a 'yesterday's' government, between an ice-cold operator unfriendly to facts, and a public climate policy, a social majority, a climate movement that refuses to recognise the power plant. And today a conflict is ignited which we believe we are winning. We, as a climate movement, we know that it will go off-grid, we will take care of it."
W/S Rally participants holding red cloth on river bank
SOT, Activist: "Here that we are fighting it should not be the case that we should fight against these issues. It is absurd, it has become normalised. We see that every day children are skipping their schools and many activists are spending so much time protesting these big businesses and companies, it should be really absurd and we should not be doing this."
M/S Rally participants holding banners
C/U Rally participants putting banners on ground
W/S Powerplant chimney
M/S Police officer in front of rally participants
M/S Rally participants holding banners
M/S Rally participants with red paint on palms
M/S Man playing guitar and singing
M/S Police van and chimney in background
W/S Rally participants marching and chanting
M/S Police officers walking along rally participants
W/S Rally participants walking and chanting
W/S Police vehicles
M/S Rally participants marching
M/S Rally participant being detained by police
M/S Rally participants standing and chanting
M/S Rally participant being detained by police
M/S Police carrying person
M/S Police van
W/S Rally participants standing and chanting
SCRIPT
Climate activists protested against the launch of a coal power plant in the German town of Datteln in North Rhine-Westphalia on Saturday. The Datteln 4 facility began operating despite the German Government's pledge to phase out its coal production by 2038.
Members of global groups, such as Fridays for Future and Extinction Rebellion were seen outside the plant's premises with several members speaking from an improvised podium.
Fridays for Future's activist Lisa Neubauer said the conflict between environmentalists and the 'insecure' and 'yesterday's' government will be more 'ignited' but that the activists were on the winning side."
Germany is the largest contributor to the European Union's CO2 emissions, with an estimated share of 22 per cent. Currently, over one-third of the country's electricity comes from coal power plants.