Video of Police Stuck in Mud During German Mine Protest Viewed 2.2M Times

A video showing police getting stuck in the mud during an apparent clash with protestors at a demonstration against the expansion of a lignite mine has gone viral online.

The video uploaded to Twitter by user @_maxgranger on Saturday, January 14, which can be seen here, showed a number of police struggling to move around in thick mud amid ongoing anger in Lützrath, a small village in Western Germany.

In the clip, several officers could be seen trying to wrestle themselves free and return to the row of police that had gathered in the area.

As the video continued, a man dressed as a monk could be seen walking around the police before pushing one of the officers back into the mud.

The clip has attracted more than 2.2 million views and some 29,000 likes since it was shared on the social media platform.

Several videos have emerged from the demonstration that shows North Rhine-Westphalia police clashing with protestors as they aim to clear the village to make it ready for demolition.

Police had warned people against visiting or protesting in the area due to recent rain, saying that there was a risk of slipping.

A January 14 Polizei NRW AC tweet read: "The opencast mining area and the demolition edge are particularly affected by the rain of the past few days associated with dangers. Keep a safe distance & try do not enter the mine. There is an acute risk of slipping here. #Lützerath."

Protestors and environmental activists had gathered in the area to protest against the destruction of Lützerath in order to facilitate the expansion of the mine.

Demonstrators have occupied some of the former homes, which residents had left behind after they were evicted in 2017 in order for the mine to go ahead.

Protests against the demolition of the village attracted the attention of climate activist Greta Thunberg.

The Swedish campaigner has since arrived in Lützerath and earlier this week encouraged others to visit the area to join demonstrators.

In a January 13 tweet, Thunberg said: "Climate strike week 230. We are currently in Lützerath, a German village that threatened to be demolished for an expansion of a coal mine. People have been resisting for years. Join us here at 12 or a local protest tomorrow to demand that #LützerathBleibt !#ClimateStrike."

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has exposed Germany's energy crisis and has helped fuel a coal comeback in the European country.

According to Reuters, an estimated 36.3 percent of the electricity fed into the German power grid between July and September came from coal compared with 31.9 percent in the third quarter of 2021.

Coal had been set to be phased out by 2030, but the war and gas export curbs have brought it into favor once again.

Newsweek has contacted the Polizei NRW AC for comment.