The day we stopped Europe’s biggest polluter in its tracks | John Jordan

Earlier this month, 1,500 protesters forced the temporary closure of a vast lignite mine in Germany. It was terrifiyng, exhilarating - and direct action at its best

This month, I broke the law. I wasn't alone; I was with 1,500 others, many of whom had never broken any law for their beliefs before. Together we managed to shut down Europe's biggest source of CO2 emissions: RWE's lignite mines in the Rhineland in Germany.

In total, around 800 of us were arrested, and hundreds of us refused to cooperate with the authorities by withholding our names and IDs. This hampered the bureaucracy so badly that we were released without charge. It was the world's largest act of disobedience against the mining of fossil fuels - and it might be the spark that ignites a rising, cross-border movement of disobedience for climate justice.

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