They came in hi-vis jackets and anoraks, beating drums and blowing whistles as the rain pelted down, defiantly defending their dying industry. Perhaps a thousand miners and other workers turned out at the Schwarze Pumpe coal-fired power plant in eastern Germany on September 9th, presenting a boisterous welcome to visitors at a conference on the future of the local Lau-sitz region. In a clever stunt, they forced those attending to enter through one of two makeshift arches marked "2030" and "2038", signifying two possible end-dates for the use of coal in Germany. Anyone taking the first was roundly booed.
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