ERKELENZ (dpa-AFX) - After nightfall, the clearance work in Lützerath at the Garzweiler opencast lignite mine continued. On high stands and in the tree houses activists persevered on Wednesday evening in windy weather. Construction machines drove back and forth, parts of Lützerath were brightly illuminated with floodlights, others plunged into deep darkness.

On one street, about a dozen activists persevered in nets and on high stands. She has been here since eight in the morning, one woman said in a low voice. How long she can hold out, she said, she doesn't know. "At least it's not raining," said the activist, who was wrapped in plastic sheeting. She was sitting several meters above the ground on a board attached to ropes in the dark.

A few meters away, a Lützerath activist discussed climate protection and how to generate attention with two police officers from his high stand. Activists were also hanging from ropes in trees, and light was coming from some tree houses. In others, activists made themselves heard, chanted and asked the police to leave.

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. Police had begun clearing the site on Wednesday./uho/DP/zb