Eco-warrior Greta Thunberg carried away by police after cops pepper spray & clash with protesters at anti-coal mine demo
ECO-warrior Greta Thunberg has been led away by police while attending an anti-coal mine demonstration in Germany.
Thunberg, 20, was pictured being manhandled by police as she was forcibly carried away at the protest in Lützerath.
It comes after clashes broke out at the protest yesterday as climate activists accused cops of "pure violence".
Protesters were attempting to stop the razing of a German village to make way for an expanded coal mine.
In an operation that began on Wednesday, hundreds of police have been removing activists from the doomed hamlet.
The site, which has become a symbol of resistance to fossil fuels, attracted thousands of protesters on Saturday, including Greta.
The young Swede reportedly returned on Sunday and was one of the the last protests removed from the site.
And it comes after her high profile spat with misogynist influencer Andrew Tate just days before he was arrested for trafficking in Romania.
Some 70 cops have reportedly been hurt during the clashes.
Criminal proceedings have been launched in around 150 cases, police said, including for resistance against police officers, damage to property and breach of the peace.
Protest organisers reported that dozens had been injured in clashes with cops.
Indigo Drau, a spokeswoman for the organisers, on Sunday told a press conference the police had gone in with "pure violence".
Organisers said that 35,000 protesters demonstrated on Saturday.
Police put the figure at 15,000.
The situation on the ground was "very calm" on Sunday, insisted a police spokesman.
Officers had "unrestrainedly" beaten protesters, often on the head, she said.
Activists on Saturday had accused the police of using "massive batons, pepper spray... water cannons, dogs and horses".
At least 20 activists had been taken to hospital for treatment, said Birte Schramm, a medic with the group.
Some of them had been beaten on the head and in the stomach by police, she said.
Organisers said that 35,000 protesters demonstrated on Saturday. Police put the figure at 15,000.
A police spokesman said on Sunday around 70 officers had been injured since Wednesday, many of them in Saturday's clashes.
Criminal proceedings have been launched in around 150 cases, police said, including for resistance against police officers, damage to property and breach of the peace.
The situation on the ground was "very calm" on Sunday, the police spokesman said.
About a dozen activists were still holed up in tree houses and at least two were hiding in an underground tunnel, according to the police.
Luetzerath -- deserted for some time by its former inhabitants -- is being demolished to make way for the extension of the adjacent open-cast coal mine.
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The mine, already one of the largest in Europe, is operated by energy firm RWE.
The expansion is going ahead in spite of plans to phase out coal by 2030, with the government blaming the energy crisis caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.