ERKELENZ (dpa-AFX) - A few minutes the masked man remains suspended in three meters height in the three-legged frame, then he comes down again: The public action training on a tripod used for blockades in Lützerath at the Garzweiler opencast lignite mine is already over again. Earlier, about 30 demonstrators practiced a sit-in blockade. Close together on the ground, on red cushions, their arms interlocked, they shout: "Coal stop, coal stop". It all lasts only about fifteen minutes.

Several thousand demonstrators had come for a Sunday walk to the small district of the town of Erkelenz known for its concentrated protest against coal mining. An action alliance "Lützerath unräumbar" also demonstrated forms of civil disobedience. In the meantime, Lützerath is located directly on the demolition edge of the huge hole that open pit mining is digging into the landscape. It is expected to be cleared in the near future.

The activists living there want to delay this as long as possible and oppose the police. "We hope to hold Lützerath for six weeks," says Dina Hamid, spokeswoman for the Lützerath Lives initiative. Currently, she said, about 700 people are on the ground. And she expects further influx of people. "Lützerath lives and is more alive than ever before," says the young woman.

Climate activist Luisa Neubauer says politicians did not expect so much resistance to the demolition of the village. "You can see that apparently it was underestimated what power there is in this place," Neubauer told Deutsche Presse-Agentur in Lützerath on Sunday. "Here, a society shows that it understands: it's all about everything. The village here is overrun with people who have come from all over the republic."

The hamlet, which lies in the middle of fields, now consists of only a few houses. The original inhabitants have sold their property and have long since lived elsewhere. The place belongs to the energy company RWE. Coal opponents have been settling there for about two years. They are preparing to resist what is likely to be an imminent eviction.

The green-led economics ministries in the federal government and North Rhine-Westphalia have agreed with the opencast mine operator RWE on a coal phase-out in the Rhineland that will be brought forward to 2030. Five villages threatened with demolition are to be preserved. Lützerath is to give way in order to mine the coal underneath. It is needed for energy supply, the energy company says.

Among the supporters of the protest are young and old. Many know each other from the demonstrations at Hambacher Forst in 2018 and have long been fighting electricity generation from lignite. Others want to try out self-determined, alternative ways of life in Lützerath. Some activists came with equipment as if the resistance was about to start: with drinking cups on their backpacks, gloves and masked faces.

In the symbolic place for a new climate policy, there is frustration and joy. On the access road, there is also a completely demolished junk car standing across the way. There five activists make good mood with music. "Please sing along - No photos" is written on the sign carried by a swaying activist in a yellow carnival costume. Because pictures could help the police identify her.

But there was hardly anything to be seen of the police. However, because there was a water inrush in the open pit mine, a new location had to be found for a concert by the Cologne band AnnenMayKantereit. The police released their parking lot for this purpose./uho/DP/nas