Police carry Greta Thunberg from German coal protest

Police said that a group of protesters, Thunberg among them, had moved away from the larger body of demonstrators and started approaching the face of the Garzweiler mine.

Setting foot on the steep decline at the edge of the mine is not permitted for safety reasons. Thunberg was one of several protesters carried away from the escarpment. Police also said that one person had jumped into the mine.

“Greta Thunberg was part of a group of activists who rushed towards the ledge,” a spokesperson for Aachen police told the Reuters news agency. “However, she was then stopped and carried by us with this group out of the immediate danger area to establish their identity.”

The spokesperson said it wasn’t clear what would happen to Thunberg or the group she was detained with, or whether the activist who jumped into the mine was hurt. In total, police said several dozen people were either carried or led away.

Reuters later cited an eyewitness as saying Thunberg could subsequently be seen sitting alone on a large police bus.

Many of the protesters have been taken into custody at least briefly in the past 10 days or so, but others have simply been removed from areas that police wanted to start demolishing or clearing and then released.