ELSDORF (dpa-AFX) - Climate activists have occupied a bucket-wheel excavator at the Hambach opencast lignite mine in the Rhenish lignite mining region. A total of four people have been on the excavator since the early morning hours, an RWE spokesman told Deutsche Presse-Agentur on Monday. This had stopped the operation. The police had been informed.

According to the protest group "Counterattack - for the good life", eight activists have occupied the excavator. With the action one wants to show solidarity with the people in the village Lützerath. The group also criticized the actions of the police there and called for the socialization of energy production.

Lützerath, which is about 20 kilometers from the Hambach open pit mine, has been cordoned off by the police for days and surrounded by a double fence. The buildings of the small settlement on the territory of the town of Erkelenz, west of Cologne, are currently being demolished to allow the energy company RWE to excavate the coal underneath. Climate activists had occupied the abandoned village.

The eviction of the village had begun on Wednesday. On Sunday evening, police announced that they had cleared the village, with the exception of two activists in a tunnel./jwe/DP/mis