The police have started to surround the village of Lützerath in the Rhenish lignite mining area, which is occupied by climate activists, for the planned evacuation.

As the responsible police headquarters in Aachen wrote on Twitter, the change in the location of Lützerath began on Wednesday morning.

The Aachen police chief had previously told the Berlin-Brandenburg broadcaster radioeins that the evacuation operation was imminent.

Aachen's chief of police Dirk Weinspach said on Tuesday evening in Erkelenz that the operation should last "up to four weeks", but one hopes "that it won't take quite that long".

Lützerath is a district of the 43,000-inhabitant town in the west of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The hamlet, located in the middle of fields, is now located directly on the edge of the Garzweiler lignite opencast mine.

The coal underneath is to be mined to generate electricity.

The energy company RWE has announced that it will start "dismantling" the Rhenish lignite town of Lützerath this Wednesday.

"As one of the first measures, a construction fence a good one and a half kilometers long will be erected for safety reasons," the group said in the morning.

Reul worried about the safety of the emergency services

At an information event about the operation in Erkelenz on Tuesday evening, the around 300 participants were mainly representatives of local climate protection initiatives who strictly reject opencast mining.

They called for a moratorium in view of the imminent start of the evacuation and questioned the reports on which the use of the site for opencast lignite mining is based.

Residents in neighboring villages complained about police helicopters flying close to their homes.

The appearance of a private security service was also criticized.

According to Police Commissioner Weinspach, the forthcoming evacuation of the protest village is one of the most challenging operations in recent years.

The police receive support from all over Germany.

Activists have erected about 25 tree houses, some at great heights.

North Rhine-Westphalia's Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) was concerned about the safety of the emergency services in advance.

“We have a certain proportion of violent activists in Lützerath.

Their number is currently fluctuating every day," said Reul of the "Rheinische Post".

"Therefore, such an operation is always dangerous for the police, and I'm also constantly concerned about the safety of our officers." However, the emergency services are well trained and educated.

The police are well prepared in terms of logistics and personnel.

He explained: "We don't know what the police officers can expect in the houses in Lützerath.

Are there traps or other barricades that we don't see from the outside?

We also don't know how many people will stand in the way of the emergency services." Reul added: "Caution is the order of the day these days."

The economics ministries led by the Greens in the federal government and in North Rhine-Westphalia have agreed with the energy company RWE to phase out coal by 2030.

In addition, five already largely empty villages at the Garzweiler opencast mine in the vicinity of Lützerath are to be preserved.

The small town of Lützerath on the edge of the opencast mine can be excavated.

The premises and houses have long belonged to RWE.

The legal disputes have finally been resolved.

Due to the current energy crisis, power generation from lignite for the European power grid has recently been expanded again.

In the Rhineland, there are two other lignite mines in Hambach and Inden.