Weisweiler coal plant disruption

In the first week of the UNFCCC COP23 in Bonn in 2017, 14 activists entered the Weisweiler coal power plant and blocked the delivery of coal into the burning chambers, causing the plant to reduce output for several hours. 4 of the activists could be identified and have been charged with criminal charges as well as with demands for compensation exceeding 2 million Euros by Carbon Major RWE.

The activists are accused of trespass, breach of a public operation and resistance against executory officers – that’s the criminal-law-part.

It’s a well-known phenomenon that the state is prosecuting persons by criminal law because of their political activities. However, it’s a recent development that also the destructive companies targeted by actions demand damage compensation. In the German legal system, this is possible because of the so called “Zivilrecht” – the civil law as a part of the private law. RWE is telling us now: “You’ve blocked us, we weren’t able to generate profit, now you have to pay for our outage”. To us it’s obvious that RWE’s power plants are destroying the livelihood of humans all around the world. That’s why a blockade isn’t a cause of loss but damage containment.


 * WeDontShutUp - Eigener Film der AktivistInnen gives an account of the action and legal arguments, including Necessity defense (in German)
 * http://wedontshutup.org/