Police in riot gear have started to drag climate activists away from an abandoned village in western Germany they have occupied for months.
Protesters barricaded themselves in to prevent Lützerath from being swallowed up by the nearby Garzweiler open coal mine.
Some activists threw stones and pyrotechnics at police officers as they began to clear the camp.
Protesters climbed into treehouses to make the eviction more difficult.
The village is owned by energy firm RWE, and the last resident moved out over a year ago.
There were violent scuffles as police wearing riot gear stormed the village early on Wednesday to evict the protesters.
They dragged some activists, many wearing scarves to mask their faces, away across the muddy ground. The situation was then described as calmer but many of the protesters remained.
Some have formed human chains, others have taken to treehouses or the rooftops of the village.
Lützerath is literally on the verge of being swallowed up by the vast open coal mine on its doorstep.
RWE operates the mine and plans to extend the works. A huge mechanical digger stands metres from the treeline at the edge of the village.
Although all the residents have left, several hundred climate protesters are determined to stop RWE getting at the lignite that lies underneath Lützerath. —BBC
