On Saturday, the police violently pushed back climate demonstrators near Lützerath who were trying to get to the edge of the opencast lignite mine.

A police spokesman confirmed this.

He cannot yet say anything about injuries or arrests because the operation is ongoing.

Walking to the edge of the mine is life-threatening because the ground has softened due to constant rain and there is a risk of landslides.

The police spokesman said violent protesters also attacked police patrol cars and threw pyrotechnics at officers.

Demonstrators also tried to get into the sealed-off Lützerath, but so far they have not been able to.

"We have our backs to the fence.

The water cannons are behind us.

The threat was made that the water cannons would be used.

Now we have to wait and see what happens."

said a police spokesman for the German press agency.

The demonstrators are still getting more crowds.

"We are already using direct force when people go in that direction." A little later, the dpa reported that the police had used water cannons just before Lützerath.

The police estimated the number of participants at 8,000 to 10,000, the organizers spoke of 35,000.

The participants protest against the fact that Lützerath, a district of Erkelenz, is being demolished so that the energy company RWE can excavate the coal underneath.

The demonstrators moved from the neighboring village of Keyenberg to the level of the local area, which has been cleared by the police since Wednesday because of the upcoming excavation.

After the meeting was initially largely peaceful, according to a police spokesman, pyrotechnics were fired at officials in the afternoon.

The Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg called for the preservation of Lützerath at the demonstration and called for further protests and resistance.

"As long as the coal is in the ground, this fight is not over," she said in a speech at the end of the rally on Saturday.

"We have no intention of giving up."

Thunberg called it "a disgrace" that Germany, despite the climate crisis, continues to sign contracts with energy companies like RWE that would mine and burn coal.

The Swede praised the large number of participants at the demo as a "sign of hope".

The response shows that the changes in climate and environmental policy are not being achieved "by the so-called decision-makers" in politics and business, but by the "people who are in tree houses, who are here on the street".

On Saturday morning, the police continued to clear the town of Lützerath, which was occupied by climate protection activists and is to be demolished for lignite mining.

"The work continues," said a police spokesman.

Emergency services climbed trees on which people persevered.

An activist was later brought down.

According to the energy company RWE, preparations are also underway to get activists out of a tunnel.

According to the police, the operation at the tunnel has been handed over.

A police spokesman said it was a "rescue" that was now in the hands of RWE and THW.