Thousands at climate rally near German mine

Thousands of children gathered in Aachen to call for political action to mitigate climate change as part of the German city’s first international “Fridays for Future” rally.According to organisers, the demonstration was Germany’s largest so far, with 40,000 participants gathering outside Aachen’s Tivoli football stadium, not far from the country’s foremost lignite-mining area, Europe’s largest source of carbon dioxide emissions.Seventeen nationalities were also represented, said spokeswoman Cornelia Theuer, including Dutch, Belgian, French and British people.Earlier, a police spokeswoman said they were expecting the number of registered participants, 10,000 to 20,000, to be reached.They did not immediately give an updated participation estimate.Thousands of climate activists are preparing to block access to the mine over the weekend.The mass gathering, held under sunny skies, had a festival atmosphere.On banners, in chants and through speeches, participants called for the swift closure of coal-fired power plants and other drastic measures to curtail climate change.“We have to do something now, it is actually already too late,” warned 17-year-old Malika Scheller from the German city of Freiburg.Nadja Gosteli, a 15-year-old who travelled to the demonstration from Switzerland, said she was “seizing the opportunity to change something in the world”, adding: “If you have the opportunity to be a hero, you should seize it.”Many students brought home-made signs to the rally.Romy, a 17-year-old from Cologne, held one with the message “The climate is more hopeless than our math graduation exam”.Others proclaimed “The dinosaurs also thought they had time” and “Grandma, what’s a snowman?”A banner hanging over a fire engine read: “Our house is on fire.”Two children abseiled from a bridge, holding a banner between them that read “Your greed is costing us our future”.The police said they ended the risky action, which temporarily put a halt to the protest march.A large police contingent had been deployed for the demonstration.One of the oldest participants was Erasmus, an 88-year-old man from Cologne.“We support the students, we want to show that we old people have the same ideas and the same goals,” he said.The “Fridays for Future” protest network is driven largely by school children and led by Sweden’s Greta Thunberg.Her weekly protest outside parliament in Stockholm culminated in a May 24 global school strike that was staged in 131 countries.Another “Fridays for Future” demonstration is planned for today in Germany at the Garzweiler surface mine, around 40km from Aachen.They will be calling for an earlier phase-out of coal, which is currently foreseen for 2038 at the latest.The surface mine will reportedly also be targeted by the climate activists’ blockades.They are demanding an immediate phase-out of coal and “a fundamental system change”.The Ende Gelaende! (Stop here!) alliance said it expects 4,000 activists to take part.Police had already stepped up their presence at the mine yesterday morning, with a water cannon among the vehicles standing by.Police also blocked the Viersen am Niederrhein train station for several hours after 1,000 activists from the alliance had made their way there.“We want to stop them from using the train to travel to the mining site in order to commit crimes there,” said police.An activist spokeswoman said the demonstrators were on their way to vigils and rallies.“Police are taking away young people’s rights to protest for their future,” said the spokeswoman, Kathrin Henneberger.