Massive police forces pushed ahead with the evacuation of the village of Lützerath in the lignite mining region of North Rhine-Westphalia on Thursday.

The officers cleared buildings and destroyed wooden huts erected by squatters, eyewitnesses reported. The energy giant RWE wants to demolish the hamlet in order to be able to excavate the lignite beneath the village. Climate activists are continuing to protest against the plans and only occupied parts of the village after the eviction began on Wednesday.

(Report by Wolfgang Rattay, Matthias Inverardi, edited by Sabine Ehrhardt; 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)).