The German Public Prosecutor’s Office claims to have tracked down the cowled man who made people around the world smile with his performance at a climate protest. One policeman is said to have suffered a haematoma after this.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office has brought charges against a Frenchman it believes to be the “Monk of Lützerath” at the district court in Erkelenz, North Rhine-Westphalia. The 28-year-old Loïc S. is accused of assaulting law enforcement officers and causing bodily harm during the evacuation of the lignite village of Lützerath in January 2023. The police used violence against occupiers of the village and protesters.
The masked climate activist made fun of police officers stuck in the mud during the eviction. Earlier, one of the officers had thrown his sign reading “Lützi stays” behind the police lines. The man wearing a cowl then pushed the police officer over twice. This scene, which was captured on video, made people around the world chuckle.
The indictment against S. is available to “nd”. According to it, S., together with 15,000 people, entered a cordon that was supposed to prevent “a storming of Lützerath by the demonstrators”. He then “deliberately physically abused another person and harmed their health”. This refers to a police officer whom the accused allegedly kicked “against his lower left leg”. According to the indictment, the police victim suffered “pain to his shoulder and a haematoma”.
The fact that the “monk” had been unmasked was reported by the Aachen police in their operational report at the beginning of the year. In the meantime, however, doubts had arisen as to whether this was the right person. Apparently, the police were on S.’s trail because he had also allegedly taken part in militant climate protests in France wearing a monk’s habit as well. According to the indictment, the Frenchman also outed himself in an interview with Stern magazine in February.
The “nd” also interviewed the activist, who describes himself as a “mud magician”, in February. He summarised the protests in Lützerath: “More than 300 villages have been destroyed and 44,000 residents displaced in 30 years due to coal mining in Germany. How democratic is that?” He also criticised the authorities: “The police officers were the embodiment of evil, as in every other moment in which they violently defend the interests of the powerful,” the “monk” told the paper.
The Erkelenz district court has not yet admitted the charges. Loïc S., who comes from Nancy in Lorraine, is not unknown to the German justice system. In 2020, after 16 months on remand in Hamburg, he was sentenced to three years in prison for aiding and abetting banditry, causing grievous bodily harm and assaulting law enforcement officers. The offences involved damage to vehicles and shops on Hamburg’s Elbchaussee, a wealthy area in the suburbs of the city.
S. served part of his sentence in Hamburg and then succesfully applied to continue it in France. However, there he was quickly released, partly because a French court recognised his “good social integration”. The fact that French criminal law does not recognise “psychological aiding and abetting” of criminal offences or “ostentatious marching” at demonstrations contributed to his release. S. served a total of 487 days in prison on these charges in Germany.
Published in German in „nd“.
Image: The “monk” was also active in France, here a year ago at protests against “mega basins” (MonchLutzi).
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