The police want to continue clearing the lignite town of Lützerath, which is occupied by activists, on Saturday morning.

"We're almost through above ground," said a spokesman in the morning.

There are still about 15 "structures" of the activists, including tree houses and shacks, it said.

In addition, attempts will continue to penetrate into a tunnel in which two people are supposed to stay.

The emergency services canceled the evacuation of Lützerath again on Friday evening.

According to the police, the night was "quiet".

There have been no incidents.

Activists in tree houses woke each other with shouts early Saturday morning.

Large parts of the site are illuminated with floodlights.

According to the police, since the start of the evacuation on Wednesday, emergency services have brought around 470 activists out of the occupied town.

Of these, 320 people would have left the site voluntarily.

The police also had information on four injured activists.

The spokesman said in the morning that the injuries were caused “as part of acts of resistance”, by sticking and a fall.

In addition, five police officers were injured by pyrotechnics.

Criminal charges were made against 124 people, mainly for breach of the peace and resistance to police officers.

The Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg visited Lützerath on Friday and sharply criticized the actions of the police in clearing the village.

"It's outrageous how the police violence is," said Thunberg.

The Aachen police chief Dirk Weinspach rejected the accusation.

"It is incomprehensible to me how she comes to her amazing assessment," he told the "Spiegel".

“She used most of her stay to speak to the press and make statements.

While almost next to her, very delicate work was being done to free activists.”

Thunberg toured the village and crater of the brown coal mine on Friday, holding up a sign that read "Keep it in the ground."

"It's appalling to see what's happening here," said Thunberg.

This Saturday she will take part in the planned rally for the preservation of Lützerath, she announced.

When governments and corporations work together in this way to destroy the environment and endanger countless people, the population must speak out and speak out.

"We want to show what people power looks like, what democracy looks like." The police are expecting around 8,000 participants at the rally.

North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) meanwhile said on Deutschlandfunk: "We've all had the debates."

In a constitutional state, a matter is also decided at a certain point, "and this point has just been reached with the decisions and the judgments," the CDU politician clarified.

Referring to the protests in Lützerath, Wüst said he understood that the young people would put the issue on the agenda.

However, they ignored points that politicians had to weigh up.

"It was done at the federal level, we did it here, and that's why it is necessary to use this coal now," said the Prime Minister.

He pointed out that it had also been agreed to end coal-fired power generation in North Rhine-Westphalia in 2030.

As a result, “we emit less at the long end”.

Wüst declined a personal visit to Lützerath.

"I also have the impression that I can't help that much," he said.

"I don't have the impression that there is still discussion, but there are protests and demonstrations and unfortunately violence is also used, at least in part, against the police."

Wüst called for the decades-long disputes in energy policy to be settled and called for more objectivity in the discussion.

"My great wish would be that we do it in a more objective and less aggressive way, because I can already see that in all parties, in all democratic parties, the commitment to climate protection is clear, in all parties the commitment to the expansion of renewables is clear is.” There is “a core of unity”.