Climate activist Greta Thunberg has called for resistance in the lignite village of Lützerath in North Rhine-Westphalia against the mining of the hamlet by energy giant RWE.

"When governments and corporations destroy the environment (...), people fight back," said the Swede on Friday during a visit to Lützerath. Thunberg, who founded the "Fridays for Future" movement, emphasized that she has been observing the situation in the village on the edge of the North Rhine-Westphalian open-cast lignite mine for a long time. She confirmed that she would also be taking part in a demonstration to preserve Lützerath on Saturday. The village is currently being cleared by the police of climate activists who had occupied houses there. "Fight for survival," said Thunberg. "Lützi stays!" she chanted with demonstrators.

The energy giant RWE wants to demolish the hamlet in order to be able to excavate the lignite under the village. Lützerath has been evacuated by massive police forces since Wednesday.

(Report by Reuters TV, Matthias Inverardi; edited by Hans Seidenstücker. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).)