German police prepare to clear activists from condemned coal village

German police will soon move to evict climate activists from a deserted village in the west of the country before its demolition for opencast coal mining, a senior officer said Monday.

The squatters in Lützerath could "expect the eviction to begin from the day after tomorrow or the following days," Aachen police chief Dirk Weinspach said, citing an earlier ruling by authorities in the Rheinland region.

Once home to just under 100 people who have now been resettled, the land and houses of Lützerath now belong to the RWE energy company, which in 2013 obtained a Constitutional Court ruling to access large coal deposits in the area.

While many of the houses were already demolished, the remaining buildings have been occupied by several dozen activists who oppose the removal and burning of the coal.