Activists break into Czech mining company HQ, demand end to coal

Activists from the "Limits Are Us" (Limity jsme my) grassroots civic movement broke into the headquarters of Sev.en Energy Group, a major mining company in the Czech Republic, on Monday morning, demanding an end to using coal, according to local media reports.

The activists displayed a banner on the building, located in Most in the northern part of the country, which read "End of coal without exceptions."

Police detained 11 people at the scene, who were then transferred to the Most District Police Department for alleged offenses, the Czech News Agency reported.

"We want to draw attention to the fact that Sev.en Energy Group, a private company that owns the controversial power plant in Chvaletice, is asking for exceptions to pollute the air even more. Profit goes to private hands, but we all bear the impacts of climate change in the Czech Republic," said activist Veronika Dombrovska.

The Chvaletice Power Station is the newest brown-coal power plant in the country, which has been operational since 1979. Originally operated by the state, the plant was later sold to Pavel Tykac -- Sev.en Energy Group's sole owner.

The plant uses brown coal, a type of coal that has been shown to be much less efficient than black coal in terms of energy output and more taxing on the environment.

"The coal commission must call for the urgent end of coal combustion, without which the climate crisis cannot be resolved. However, the coal commission is unbalanced in favor of the interests of the coal industry. We all have to take action for the end of coal and transformation into clean energy," Dombrovska said.

"There is no point in having a discussion with fanatics and rioters," Sev.en Energy Group's spokeswoman Gabriela Sarickova Benesova told local media.

According to the spokeswoman, the company is combating climate change in its own way. "While some are breaking the law and exhibiting in the media, we are investing billions in green energy and reclamation," she said.