(New: Further details)

ERKELENZ (dpa-AFX) - Under predominantly peaceful protest, police on Wednesday began clearing the lignite town of Lützerath in the Rhineland 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.

The energy company RWE wants to excavate the coal lying under Lützerath - for this purpose, the hamlet on the territory of the city of Erkelenz is to be demolished. In Lützerath, climate activists have been living in empty houses for months in protest against this.

Some climate activists followed the request of the police on Wednesday and left voluntarily. They were escorted from the site. But many wanted 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 had not been allowed through, she said. "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 midday. "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 officers. Now, he said, all peaceful demonstrators have a duty to distance themselves from the actions of activists who are prepared 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.

Reul spoke of 350 people who had been unlawfully in Lützerath. About 200 climate activists left the site voluntarily on Wednesday, according to Aachen police chief Dirk Weinspach. Two of his officers were slightly injured, he said, but were still fit for duty.

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. In the process, the police also removed fire extinguishers, for example, which were kept by the activists in the huts.

"We've seen quite predominantly peaceful protest here, in sit-ins, on tripods - and these are forms of protest that we're super par with," a police spokesman said in the afternoon. If the activists let themselves be carried away, that was still passive protest and thus within the scope of what was appropriate, he said.

After dark, the eviction work continued in the evening. Activists held out in windy weather on high stands and in tree houses. Construction machines drove back and forth, parts of Lützerath were brightly illuminated with floodlights, others plunged into deep darkness. In a barn, police officers took activists down from a high platform.

For the police union (DPolG), the police's operational concept in clearing the village of Lützerath has worked so far. "The targeted communication has contributed to the de-escalation of the situation," said DPolG Chairman Rainer Wendt on 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."

Climate activist Greta Thunberg plans to come to Luetzerath for protests. The Swede announced on Twitter that she will take part in a demonstration on Saturday against the eviction of the village occupied by climate activists. "Science agrees, those most concerned agree: no more fossil fuels!" she wrote. 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 German parliamentary elections at the time.

Bishop Helmut Dieser of Aachen appealed to all sides in the conflict over the evacuation of the lignite village not to set off a spiral of violence. "Peaceful protests are a central component of a living democracy," he said Wednesday, according to a statement from the vicariate general. "But part of a credible rule of law is that rules and agreements are respected."/cd/DP/zb