Ende Gelände 2019
[5] In January 2019, the German Commission on Growth, Structural Change and Employment recommended in its final report that coal should be completely phased out as a power source in Germany by 2038, which was criticized by both scientists, such as Commissioner Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, and environmental organizations as inadequate to prevent global warming from reaching an irreversible tipping point.
[7] On 20 June 2019, the then-heads of state and government of the EU could not agree on CO2 neutrality by 2050, because Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic objected to it.
[14][15][12] On Friday, 21 June 2019 the Ende Gelände 2019 activities began with a blockade of the North-South (Nord-Süd Bahn-Kohlenbahn in German) train connection between the Garzweiler open pit mine and the Neurath power station.
[22][21] In addition, participants were prevented from freely leaving the train stations in Hochneukirch and Viersen, for up to 13 hours, due to what the police called "capacity issues".
[27][28] On the same day, the fourth Merkel cabinet proposed its climate package, which was criticized as being insufficient by scientists, environmental organizations and the opposition.
Ottmar Edenhofer, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, described it as "document of political dispiritedness" with which the set goals for 2030 could not be reached.
According to the police, three policemen were lightly injured, otherwise the protests remained peaceful despite threats of violence from right-wing extremists in the days before the event.
