Two thousand environmental protesters are occupying a coal mine in Germany as part of an international campaign against the use of fossil fuels.
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The activists, dressed in white overalls and equipped with breathing masks, blocked access to the open cast Proschim mine close to the Polish border, arriving Friday.
The group unfurled banners on excavation machinery, with slogans including "Keep it in the ground" and "Climate crime scene" as organizers said that the action would last all weekend.
"Each new ton of coal is a ton too many," said the organizers of the protest, part of the "Break Free" campaign which was launched in several countries including the US, Canada and Brazil earlier this month to oppose fossil fuel use. Representatives of Global Debout, in solidarity with occupiers in France protesting their labor law, were also present.
WATCH: Germany: Protests demand greater action on climate change
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The targeted mine is operated by Swedish state-owned energy giant Vattenfall and produces 20 million tonnes of brown coal every year.
Vattenfall said in April that it had reached a deal to sell its German coal operations, which employ 8,000 people, as it moves away from activities blamed for climate change. The company filed a complaint against the protesters, but the police vowed it would not evacuate them.
Vattenfall said it would sell its German brown coal, or lignite, business — open cast coal mines and two power plants close to the German-Polish border — to Czech operator EPH. Germany has the largest reserves of lignite, which produces more carbon emissions than coal.