Climate activists rally, seek to occupy coal mine in Germany

VIERSEN, Germany: Tens of thousands of climate activists noisily rallied in Germany Friday to demand action against global warming, now one of the hottest issues on the European political agenda. While anti-coal activists tried to reach and occupy a massive open-cast lignite mine, elsewhere the “Fridays for Future” student movement staged their biggest international rally so far. At least 20,000 young activists from 17 countries flocked to Aachen near the Dutch and Belgian borders for a huge show of force of the school-strike movement launched by Swedish teenage activist Greta Thunberg. “Climate justice without borders,” read one banner at the head of the colourful and festive rally. Another demanded: “Raise your voice, not the sea level.” Many of the young activists planned at the weekend to join the “Ende Gelaende” (EG) anti-coal protest, whose members were already playing a cat-and-mouse game with police as they tried to reach the Garzweiler mine. The German phrase “Ende Gelaende” means that something is irrevocably finished — similar to “end of story” — which is how the protesters feel about the fossil fuel age.