ERKELENZ (dpa-AFX) - Activists in Lützerath at the Garzweiler open-pit lignite mine want to delay the planned evacuation for weeks. "We hope to hold Lützerath for six weeks," Dina Hamid, spokeswoman for the Lützerath initiative, said Sunday. Currently, 700 people are in the Erkelenz district, she said. Among other things, sit-in blockades and the occupation of tree houses and huts are planned. The village, which consists of only a few houses, is located directly on the quarry edge of the open pit mine. The eviction is expected in the near future.

On Sunday, representatives of an action alliance consisting of several groups "Lützerath unräumbar" reiterated their determination to oppose the eviction. The alliance includes organizations and initiatives such as Ende Gelände, Fridays for Future, Alle Dörfer bleiben and Letzte Generation.

Coal opponents have settled in the rural district. They live in squatted buildings, tents and tree houses. The original residents have long since moved away. The resettlement of Lützerath and surrounding villages began in 2000.

The land and houses of the village, which was dominated by agriculture, have long since belonged to the open-cast mining operator RWE. In October 2022, the green-led economics ministries in the federal government and North Rhine-Westphalia agreed with the energy company on a coal phase-out in the Rhineland that would be brought forward to 2030. Five villages in the vicinity of the open pit mine that were previously threatened with demolition are to be preserved. However, the village of Lützerath, with only a few houses left, is to make way for the coal mined underneath./uho/DP/nas