Obama, Hu lookalikes in German rising tide protest

By Erik Kirschbaum BERLIN (Reuters) - German climate activists posing as international leaders sat inside a giant aquarium which was filled with water on Saturday in a protest held in Berlin against the world's rising sea levels.

Around 20,000 people marched in London on Saturday to protest against climate change ahead of a two week-long U.N. climate conference in Copenhagen starting on Monday. A Greenpeace demonstration in Paris drew 1,500 people.

"We want the most ambitious deal we can get at the climate change talks," Britain's Energy Secretary Ed Miliband told BBC television from the march.

The German activists -- dressed as U.S. President Barack Obama, Chancellor Angela Merkel, Chinese President Hu Jintao and wearing caricature face masks -- saw 4,000 liters of water rise to their chins to symbolize the impact of global warming.

The protest by the Klima-Allianz activists in front of Berlin's Brandenburg Gate was designed to draw attention to a lack of progress in fighting climate change.

"The longer world leaders just talk and do nothing, the higher the water levels will rise," said Juergen Maier, a leader of Klima-Allianz that staged scores of other demonstrations around Germany on Saturday.

"They need to act now to slow climate change," he said. "The world needs action, not just more empty talk. Merkel acts like she's doing so much. But Germany still builds coal-burning power plants and has no speed limit. Germany could do much more."

RISING SEA LEVELS

A group of 26 top climate researchers warned last month that global warming is happening faster than expected and at worst could raise sea levels by up to 2 meters (6-1/2 feet) by 2100.