Aleks Furtula, Philipp Jenne, Michael Probst and Frank Jordans provided fast and comprehensive all-formats coverage of protests against a move to demolish a hamlet to make way for a coal mine in western Germany. The team braved rain, mud and frigid temperatures to bring the coverage – including more than 20 hours of live video and an interview with climate campaigner Greta Thunberg – to the world.
Numerous APTN clients in Germany used the video, underscoring the strong work by the AP team on a highly competitive story. To produce the week-long coverage of the climate protests and the demolition of the hamlet of Luetzerath, video journalists Furtula and Jenn swooped in from Amsterdam and Vienna, respectively. Joining them in Luetzerath for the first few days were Frankfurt photographer Probst and Berlin correspondent and climate writer Jordans.
Trudging through muddy trenches with heavy equipment and getting soaked to the skin, they moved around the location to find the best angles as environmental activists tried to stop demolition crews from taking down the hamlet that was in the way of a planned expansion of a lignite coal mine.