Thousands call for climate action, target German coal mine

BERLIN (AP) — Thousands of students from across Europe protested Friday near a coal mine in western Germany, calling on governments to take bolder action against climate change.

Organizers said up to 20,000 protesters from 16 countries took part in the rally in Aachen, near Germany's border with Belgium and the Netherlands.

Demonstrators carried colorful signs and banners with slogans like "your greed costs us our future," ''climate justice: that's what we want," and "stop coal."

It comes a day after European Union leaders failed to agree a plan to make the bloc's economy carbon neutral by 2050. Several large European countries — including Britain, France and Germany — have backed the target, but coal-reliant countries in the east, such as Poland, blocked consensus on the proposal, which entails an almost complete phase-out of fossil fuel use.

Friday's protest took place near the site of one of Germany's biggest lignite coal mines. The mine has become a focus of environmental protests in recent years because its operator, utility company RWE, threatened to chop down a nearby forest.

Further protests are expected at the site over the weekend. Police have mobilized hundreds of officers and a water cannon to prevent the vast, open-cast mine and adjacent power plants from being blocked by protesters.

The German government has approved an expert proposal to end the use of coal for electricity by 2038. Activists say that's not soon enough if Germany wants to help achieve the 2015 Paris climate accord's most ambitious goal of keeping global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees (2.7 Fahrenheit) by mid-century, compared to pre-industrial times.

Following months of protests by students and a sharp rise in the polls for Germany's Green party, Chancellor Angela...