>

The village is empty because RWE bought them out to be able to mine coal. The activists are protesting against the extraction and burning of coal, as well as the fact that whole villages are able to be bought out for such a purpose. I'm glad the former inhabitants got paid to relocate, but that doesn't make the entire problem go away
Of course nobody wants trespassers on their property, that's the whole point about protesting. It's non-violent civil disobedience to protest against something that's destroying the earth
did they mention WHY they need to do this? >

Lignite, or brown coal, or wet coal, is the worst kind of coal. It's often 20% water by weight and therefore you need a lot of it. Like a lot of coal. >

There's much more to this.
RWE actually made a deal to pull out of coal mining 8 years earlier (so 2030 instead of 2038). That village was 'sacrificed' to RWE as part of the deal.
I still don't think it's a particularly good deal and electrifying coal is stupid. However, crying about it now is a bit late. >

Five other villages were saved in the deal, and the end of coal mining eight years earlier than planned will help, too.
The protests at Lützerath are a mere symbol, causing heavy costs, and were seen as pathetic by many even before.
Do not forget: The tree house guy, the tunnel guys, and those having put their arms in oil drums with concrete will have to pay for their salvage.
I wonder if they have fun afterwards. >

Wait I thought they had significantly slowed the coal mining down before covid and we're moving towards more natural gas to replace it. Building some ocean going LPG and delivery ports would make better sense especially moving into the future. >

Germans decided nuclear power was too dangerous, but they needed electricity so 🤷 >

So why don't they replace them with thorium reactors which is basically the safest type of energy you could possibly have on the planet >

They're mining lignite, so safety is already out of the equation. 
Plus you'd have to make a production-grade thorium reactor first compared to building one out of an existing design. Research projects won't solve an energy crisis that needs the energy now than later. >

Enough with the fucking coal. >

Shouldn’t have phased out nuclear then. Action, meet consequence. >


Shouldn’t have killed of renewables for 16 years then

FTFY. Nuclear wouldn’t have changed anything since all power plants in Germany are not safe enough to continue being operated without risking accidents. >

You know that nuclear plants are not a long lost technology and people can build new ones right? The shutting down of old plants could have coincided with the building of new ones... >

No no, you don't understand. 3 mile island happened at the infancy of nuclear power generation when it was still poorly understood. It's not like 70 years worth of advancement in technology hasn't brought several generations of reactors with new safety standards or anything. So Lord knows we can't have nuclear power now, what if we have a repeat of Chernobyl or 3 mile island? 
We have to shut it down
/s >

"We've got it all figured out.  There's no way this could end in massive disaster." ~Shit I've Heard Before >

To be fair the village is "empty". The villagers have been getting money by RWE. It is their land and activists don't belong on the property from RWE.
Fair? No, but who wants trepassers on their property?