Right in front of the main CEZ building the activists raised a symbolic living room and the people from Lusatia settled in to show that the coal mining affects directly their lives and homes. They brought transparents with the message "We won't be sold!" Then they handed over 40 thousands of postcards from German citizens asking for coal phase out in Lusatia adressed to CEZ executive director Daniel Beneš to the representatives of the company.
Andreas Stahlberg, Spree-Neisse, stated: "We believe that Vattenfall should phase out the lignite-business in Lusatia and have to take responsibility for the difficult questions of recultivation of the Vattenfall-mines. If it should come to a sale of the brown coal business, we will fight with all our strength that there will be no new mines and no more destruction of our villages."
The delegation from Germany entered Czech republic yesterday and stopped in Northern Bohemia to meet with Vladimír Burt, mayor of Horní Jiretín, and see the open cast mine near this town. Lusatians face the same threat as the people from Horní Jiretín and Litvínov did in the past - the loss of homes and unbearable ammount of dust and noise from mining. Czech government declined the idea to destroy the houses for coal earlier this year but in Germany there is still a real possibility to do that despite Vattenfall company decided otherwise in the past. The responsibility for the future of local people will nevertheless lie on the shoulders of potentional Vattenfall buyer.
Jan Rovenský, chief of energy campaign in Greenpeace Czech republic, said: "With Vattenfall mines the new buyer will also buy eight villages like Horní Jiretín, as well as the resistance of local people. There is no sense for Czech government to protect the houses of Czech people and let its main energy company CEZ to destroy villages in neighboring country."