Hundreds of climate activists are keeping up their protest inside one of Germany's biggest open-pit mines despite police orders to leave the place immediately, citing life-threatening danger.

Authorities pulled out some of the protesters from the Garzweiler lignite coal mine in western Germany on Sunday, the third day of protests in the Rhineland region since Friday, when 40,000 students rallied for more action against climate change in the nearby city of Aachen.

Other protesters blocked railroad tracks used to transport coal, a day after thousands of demonstrators marched peacefully near the mine.