AACHEN/ERKELENZ (dpa-AFX) - Aachen police are looking "anxiously" ahead to the coming days and weeks, when the eviction of the village of Lützerath, occupied by climate activists, could begin. "This will be a challenging operation with many risks," police chief Dirk Weinspach told WDR on Monday morning. Last week, the Lützerath protests had remained mostly peaceful - but on Sunday, it "escalated again for the first time." Among other things, stones had flown. "That's not a good sign for now," Weinspach said. I hope that this will not be repeated next week."

Energy company RWE wants to demolish Lützerath in the Rhineland region of western North Rhine-Westphalia to mine the coal underneath. The land and houses in the village, which was dominated by arable farming, now belong to RWE. However, activists who have announced resistance now live in the remaining premises, whose former residents have moved away. As a result, a large-scale police operation to evict Lützerath is probably imminent.

The activists in Lützerath are a "mixed scene," Weinspach told WDR. For the most part, he said, it was "middle-class and peacefully oriented." A small part is prepared to commit violent crimes, he said. "At least that's how it was in the past," Weinspach said./idt/DP/mis