DÜSSELDORF/ERKELENZ (dpa-AFX) - During the evacuation of the Lützerath settlement for lignite mining, up to 3700 police officers were on duty at the same time. This is according to a report of the NRW Ministry of the Interior to the state parliament. Last Friday was the day with the highest number of officers on duty. Last Saturday, when there were riots on the fringes of the demonstration against the eviction, there were 3300 forces.

Already in the run-up to the eviction, burning barricades had been erected. Police officers and RWE employees were pelted with pyrotechnics, paint bags and stones. 372 people had finally left Lützerath voluntarily, 159 had had to be taken away by the police.

During the demonstration on Saturday, several thousand demonstrators had left the approved demonstration route and moved towards Lützerath. Attempts to break through the police cordons to Lützerath were prevented by the use of batons and water cannons. The water cannons were only used with the "rain" function; there were no targeted water blasts at troublemakers.

The North Rhine-Westphalian police were supported by forces from almost all federal states and the federal government. The statistical recording of criminal charges, detentions and provisional arrests is still ongoing. NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) had reported on Monday that 180 criminal charges had been filed./fc/DP/nas