Violent clashes between police and anti-coal demonstrators
German police clashed with environmental protesters at a village being razed to make way for a coal mine expansion.
Organisers said that 35,000 protesters took part, with police putting the figure at 15,000.
There were clashes between some protesters and police, with hundreds defying an order to leave the cordoned off site, braving the mud, rain and later the darkness.
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg turned up at the protest, in the hamlet of Luetzerath in western Germany, and condemned the move.
Thunberg marched at the front of a procession of demonstrators who converged on the village, showing support for activists occupying it in protest.
"That the German government is making deals and compromises with fossil fuel companies such as RWE, is shameful," she said from a podium.
"Germany, as one of the biggest polluters in the world, has an enormous responsibility," she added.
Police used water cannons against "violent" protesters, a police spokesman said. But there was no immediate word on the number of injuries or arrests.
By the early evening, the site was calm again as the protesters gradually left, and police said the demonstration was over.
Luetzerath -- deserted for some time by its original inhabitants -- is being demolished to make way for the extension of the adjacent open-cast coal mine, already one of the largest in Europe, operated by energy firm RWE.
