There will be no criminal consequences for the two tunnel occupants of Lützerath: As the Aachen police reported on request, RWE has not filed a complaint against the men. The police therefore do not know the identity of the activists, who called themselves "Pinky" and "Brain". According to information from the German Press Agency, the tunnel in which the two had stayed for days has now been closed. It will disappear in the course of lignite mining.

Referring to an internal police document, the "Spiegel" reported that RWE had promised the activists not to report them - if they came out of the tunnel voluntarily. The tunnel occupants had therefore demanded that they be allowed to leave Lützerath masked - without the police taking their personal details and fingerprints. That's what happened in the end.

A total of 531 activists in Lützerath

Lützerath had been evacuated in a day-long large-scale police operation against the resistance of hundreds of climate activists who had holed up there. The energy company RWE wants to mine lignite there.

The Aachen police presented the final balance sheet for the operation in Lützerath on Wednesday. 372 people left the village "peacefully and voluntarily". A further 159 who were released "had to be identified as part of police measures". A total of 531 activists were in Lützerath at the beginning of the eviction.

The AfD has meanwhile made a small inquiry about the costs of the police operation in the Düsseldorf state parliament. The state government has four weeks to respond.