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Protesters delay German minister on train to Paris climate talks

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Protesters chained themselves to the railway tracks at Frankfurt station on Saturday to hold up a train carrying Germany's environment minister who was traveling to Paris for a global climate conference, a police spokesman said. Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks and more than 30 of her staff were traveling on a public train from Berlin to Paris, where the conference is due to start tomorrow. When the train stopped at Frankfurt's main station, two protesters chained themselves to the tracks in front, while others descended by ropes onto the train, the spokesman said. It took about two hours to unchain the two protesters on the tracks, after which the train continued on, he said. Six people were arrested, he said, but gave no further details. A spokesman for the minister declined to comment. Earlier on Saturday, Chancellor Angela Merkel had underscored the long-term importance of coal-fired power for Germany, a country that remains one of the globe's biggest economies and exporters. The meeting of world leaders on Sunday is meant to steer the global economy away from reliance on fossil fuels. Several scientific studies project that pledges made so far will - at best - hold the world to temperature rises of anywhere from 2.7 degrees to 3 or even 3.5 above pre-industrial times by 2100. That is well above an agreed 2-degree UN limit. (Reporting By John O'Donnell; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)