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ERKELENZ (dpa-AFX) - Under predominantly peaceful protest, police on Wednesday began to clear the site of Lützerath in the Rhenish coalfield occupied by climate activists. By the afternoon, a spokesman said he was "very satisfied" with the progress: "For the police, everything is going according to plan so far." Massive resistance had been expected in the run-up. Observers, however, spoke of a partly relaxed atmosphere. Early in the morning, there were scuffles at the start of the eviction in the district of Lützerath, which belongs to Erkelenz. According to police, a Molotov cocktail, stones and pyrotechnics were thrown in the direction of the officers.

Some climate activists followed the request of the police and left voluntarily. They were escorted off the site. Many, however, plan to continue resisting. "People are determined to stay there, to hold out, to protect the trees and the buildings," said Mara Sauer, a spokeswoman for the "Lützerath lebt" initiative.

Another spokeswoman accused the police of an over-harsh operation. Helpers were not let through, said a spokeswoman for "Lützerath lebt." "Just now another activist was brought out under painful grips," she said in the afternoon. She had also heard of people being injured.

NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) sharply criticized attacks on police officers at noon. "I'm actually just stunned and don't understand how people can do something like that," Reul said of the throws in the direction of his officers. Now, he said, all peaceful demonstrators have a duty to distance themselves from the actions of activists who are willing to use violence. "You can demonstrate somewhere else, you don't have to help them now by standing there and disturbing the police at work," he said.

Starting at noon, police had begun removing activists from trees and podiums. In the process, the officers used lifting platforms at various points. At the entrance to Lützerath, excavators began demolition work. One of the town signs of Lützerath was also removed in the early afternoon. Later, officials overturned homemade small wooden houses on stilts to continue the evacuation. According to a dpa reporter, the officers were accompanied in the process by invective from the activists in the hut and tree house camp. The police removed thereby for example also fire extinguishers, which were kept by the activists in the huts.

According to a spokesman, no information was available on injured police officers by the afternoon. He also could not yet say anything about possible arrests. "We have seen here quite predominantly peaceful protest, in sit-in blockades, on tripods - and these are forms of protest with which we come super parat," he stressed. If the activists let themselves be carried away, that was still passive protest and thus within the scope of what was appropriate, he said.

According to the German Police Union (DPolG), the deployment concept of the police in the eviction of the village of Lützerath has so far worked. "The targeted communication has contributed to the de-escalation of the situation," DPolG Chairman Rainer Wendt said Wednesday afternoon. "Experiences from past operations, such as the one in Hambacher Forst in 2018, show that the police must expect considerable resistance, including set traps."

Leading climate activist Greta Thunberg plans to come to Luetzerath for protests. According to dpa information, the young Swede will take part in a demonstration on Saturday (from 12:00) against the eviction of the village occupied by climate activists. Thunberg had already traveled to Lützerath in September 2021 to demonstrate against coal mining and for compliance with the 1.5-degree climate target - one day before the Bundestag election at the time.

Aachen Bishop Helmut Dieser has appealed to all sides in the conflict over the eviction of the lignite village of Lützerath not to set off a spiral of violence. "Peaceful protests are a central component of a living democracy," he emphasized on Wednesday, according to a statement from the vicariate general. "But a credible constitutional state also requires that rules and agreements be respected."/cd/DP/jha