(CNN) A German court on Friday temporarily blocked mining company RWE from razing further sections of an ancient forest near Cologne in what environmental campaigners have hailed as rare good news.

RWE runs an open-pit coal mine near the 12,000-year-old Hambach Forest in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Environmental activists had occupied tree houses there for years in an attempt to stop what remains of the woodland being cleared. But in recent weeks police were brought in to clear blockades erected by the activists and order them out of their treetop dwellings.

The forest, which is owned by RWE, has shrunk to less than 10% of its original size since the company began razing sections of it four decades ago, according to estimates by RWE and environmental activists.

In Friday's emergency ruling, judges in the higher administrative court in Muenster said they needed more time to consider the complaint brought by BUND, the German branch of environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth, which argues that the forest contains protected species such as Bechstein's bat.

BREAKING: German court orders (temporary) halt to logging in #HambacherForst after FoE Germany's legal case. Big protests to save the forest and stop coal mining expansion are still expected tomorrow, despite a police ban. #Hambibleit! https://t.co/ydqQjMh5Ln — Friends of the Earth (@foeeurope) October 5, 2018

Read More