SEVERAL hundred climate activists tried today to prevent heavy machinery from reaching an abandoned village in Germany that is due to be cleared for the expansion of a coalmine.

The stand-off between police and protesters followed a regional court’s decision on Monday rejecting a last-ditch attempt by the activists to stay in the hamlet of Luetzerath, west of Cologne, which has become a battleground between the government and environmentalists.

About 300 people refused to heed the ruling, arguing that civil disobedience at the site was justified in the face of the climate crisis.