ERKELENZ (dpa-AFX) - Ahead of the eviction expected from Wednesday in the Rhineland lignite town of Lützerath, the mood among climate activists is heated. Police there had continued their preliminary work on Tuesday, clearing barricades erected by protest groups on the road to the site. The climate activists formed human chains and set up a sit-in blockade.

According to Aachen police, the operation is expected to begin Wednesday at the earliest. "We're planning on up to four weeks, but we hope it won't take quite that long," Aachen police chief Dirk Weinspach said Tuesday evening in Erkelenz. Lützerath is a district of the city of 43,000 residents in western North Rhine-Westphalia. The hamlet, located in the middle of fields, is now directly on the edge of the Garzweiler open-cast lignite mine. The coal underneath is to be extracted for power generation.

At an informational event about the operation in Erkelenz, representatives of local climate protection initiatives, which strictly reject the open pit mine, were among the approximately 300 participants on Tuesday evening. They called for a moratorium in view of the imminent start of clearance and cast doubt on the expert opinions on which the claiming of the site for opencast lignite mining is based. Residents of neighboring villages complained about police helicopters flying close over their homes. The appearance of a private security service was also criticized.

According to police chief Weinspach, the upcoming evacuation of the protest village is one of the most challenging operations in recent years. Police are receiving support from all over the country for this. Activists have erected about 25 tree houses, some of them at great heights.

North Rhine-Westphalia's Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) worried in advance about the safety of the task forces. "We have a certain proportion of activists in Lützerath who are prepared to use violence. Their number currently fluctuates daily," Reul told the "Rheinische Post" (Wednesday). "Therefore, such an operation is always dangerous for the police, and I also constantly worry about the safety of our officers." However, he added, the task forces are well trained and educated. Logistically and in terms of personnel, the police are well prepared, he said.

He elaborated, "We don't know what to expect for the police officers in the houses in Lützerath. Are there traps or other barricades that we can't see from the outside? We also don't know how many people will get in the way of the emergency forces." Reul added, "Caution is the order of the day."

Bundestag Vice President Katrin Göring-Eckardt urged a peaceful protest. This should "not delegitimize itself through thoughtless actions," she told the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND). At the same time, she defended the perseverance of the climate activists. "To brand the protesters in Lützerath or on the streets as lunatics, to turn them into criminals, is unacceptable."

The economics ministries led by the Greens in the federal government and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia have agreed with the energy company RWE on a coal phase-out brought forward to 2030. In addition, five already largely empty villages at the Garzweiler open pit mine in the neighborhood of Lützerath are to be preserved. The small village of Lützerath on the edge of the open pit may be dredged. The land and houses have long belonged to RWE. The legal disputes have been settled in the last instance.

Because of the current energy crisis, lignite-fired power generation for the European power grid has recently been expanded again. In the Rhineland, there are two more opencast lignite mines, Hambach and Inden./uho/DP/mis