Police: More than 70 officers in Lützerath have been injured since the evacuation began

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Police officers and an injured demonstrator on the edge of the demonstration near Lützerath on Saturday

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Roberto Pfeil / dpa

The evacuation of the village of Lützerath has been ongoing since Wednesday, with a total of more than 70 police officers injured, the police said on Sunday.

A spokesman said most were injured in anti-coal protests on Saturday.

The injuries were only partly due to violence by demonstrators, for example, the officials also twisted their ankles in the muddy ground.

Most officers are still able to work.

"We can't yet differentiate who was injured, when and how," a police spokesman said when asked by SPIEGEL.

Demonstrators were also injured.

No one knows how many there are.

A spokeswoman for the activist group "Lützerath Leben" raised serious allegations against the police on Sunday: During the demo on Saturday there was "an unbelievable level of police violence".

One person from the ranks of the demonstrators was taken to the hospital in a life-threatening condition.

The procedure for the evacuation of Lützerath itself was rabid and ruthless.

"It's a miracle there haven't been any deaths here," the spokeswoman said.

The police deny this allegation and assure them that they will proceed with extreme caution.

The action alliance "Lützerath remains" reported on Saturday evening on Twitter about "numerous seriously injured people", according to the alliance, one person is said to have been critically injured, "ambulances and a rescue helicopter" brought the injured to a hospital.

When asked, the Aachen police stated that they had no knowledge of a helicopter operation on Saturday.

The village of Lützerath, a district of Erkelenz west of Cologne, has been cordoned off by the police for days and is surrounded by a double fence.

The few buildings in the settlement will be demolished to enable the energy company RWE to excavate the lignite underneath.

On the other hand, thousands of people demonstrated in the neighboring district of Keyenberg on Saturday.

The police spoke of 15,000 participants, the organizers estimated the number at 35,000. On the fringes of the demonstration, there were clashes between demonstrators and the police.

Also on Sunday morning there are still some squatters in tree houses and the remaining trees of Lützerath.

The police want to continue the evacuation of Lützerath on Sunday.

"It will continue during the day," said a spokesman in the morning.

According to the police, only a few activists are still in Lützerath.

The number of people is estimated to be in the single digits, the spokesman said.

According to a local activist, about 20 people are still on the site.

Two of them remain in a self-dug tunnel at a depth of about four meters.

The energy company RWE spoke on Saturday of preparations to get the two activists out of the tunnel.

tgk/dpa/afp