(new: action ended, man rescued by police)

ERKELENZ (dpa-AFX) - After a demonstration near Lützerath, a man got into the open-pit lignite mine, according to energy company RWE. An RWE spokesman said on Tuesday. "This is of course grossly reckless what he is doing," he said. The activist was standing on a "kind of landing" in the embankment, he said. The "Aachener Zeitung" had reported.

The man was rescued by the police's height intervention team on Tuesday evening, according to the RWE spokesman. Police officers had lowered themselves from above to him and pulled him up.

The demonstration had started on Tuesday in the village of Keyenberg. According to police, participants had left the protest procession to walk in the direction of Lützerath. The village has been cleared by police in recent days and is to be dredged. It is sealed off./idt/DP/stw