ERKELENZ (dpa-AFX) - Two police officers were slightly injured Wednesday during evacuation operations in the lignite mining town of Lützerath, according to Aachen police chief Dirk Weinspach. However, the officers were fit for duty, he told reporters. About 200 climate activists voluntarily left the area on the first day of evacuation, he said. Work would continue overnight, albeit "on a reduced scale." The real challenge still lies ahead for the police, Weinspach said, referring to the evacuation of the seven buildings on the site. So far, the tactical planning has worked, the police chief stressed.

Late in the afternoon, according to observations of dpa reporters, trucks transported bushes, shrubs and felled trees away from the site. The Lützerath settlement in the Rhenish lignite mining area is to be demolished in order to be able to extract the coal deposits underneath. Climate activists want to prevent this./uho/DP/zb