German police start evicting climate activists from deserted mining village of Luetzerath

Hundreds of German police began to clear climate protesters holed up in an abandoned village near the Dutch border on Thursday (January 12) in a continuing standoff over the expansion of a coal mine.

For over two years demonstrators had occupied Luetzerath, a village in the brown-coal district of the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, to stop the expansion of the Garzweiler lignite coal mine, run by energy firm RWE.

Following a court decision allowing RWE to proceed with the expansion, police in riot gear moved in a day earlier, clearing barricades put up by the activists.

Two people were detained and another three are in custody since the operation started on Wednesday, according to Aachen police spokesperson Andreas Mueller.

Equipped with ladders, sledgehammers and power saws, police climbed the walls of one of the abandoned houses in the village as protesters in the building and on its roof chanted "people got the power" and "Luetzerath stays".

Activists said hundreds of protesters were still at the site.