INDEN (dpa-AFX) - After the evacuation of Lützerath, coal opponents continued their protests and occupied a bucket wheel excavator at the Inden opencast lignite mine in North Rhine-Westphalia on Tuesday morning. "Excavator and conveyor belts have been at a standstill for half an hour," the "Aktionsticker Lützerath" tweeted before 8:00 a.m. above a photo showing activists in white full-body suits.

A spokesman for the energy company RWE confirmed the protest action of the alliance "Ende Gelände" at the request of dpa. According to the statement, 30 to 40 activists occupied a bucket-wheel excavator around 7:00 a.m., which then stopped work. Initially, there were no riots.

Police were on their way, said a spokeswoman for the Aachen police. The forces were preparing for several spontaneous, decentralized actions. The action alliance "Lützerath Unräumbar", which also includes groups from Fridays For Future and Letzte Generation, had previously called for a joint day of action on Tuesday./beg/DP/jha