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Stuck down: Last Generation activists at a blockade in Berlin in June
Photo: Kay Nietfeld / dpa
With their nationwide action, they want to paralyze traffic – and thus demonstrate against the "breach of the climate protection law": Activists of the Last Generation have announced that they will protest on the streets of 26 German cities this Friday. Currently, Berlin, Braunschweig, Dresden, Freiburg, Leipzig, Munich, Nuremberg, Potsdam and Ulm are already affected. "Other cities will follow in the course of the day," the group said in a statement.
According to a press release, the activists are wearing masks of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Transport Minister Volker Wissing and Economics Minister Robert Habeck.
Deadline expires July 17
The activists had already announced the protest on Thursday. The reason for this was what they saw as the insufficient use of the federal government for less climate-damaging greenhouse gases, especially in transport, said a spokesman. Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) did not present an immediate programme to comply with the maximum quantities set out in the Climate Protection Act, despite being legally obliged to do so.
A spokesman for Wissing said of the ministry's efforts that the Federal Cabinet had set the course for a reform of the Climate Protection Act in June and had also presented a draft climate protection programme. It provides for far-reaching measures for the transport sector. It is the "common view" of the Federal Government that the Ministry of Transport has thus fulfilled its obligation to submit additional climate protection measures.
In 2022, the legally prescribed amount of greenhouse gases had been exceeded in the transport and building sectors. According to the current Climate Protection Act, the responsible ministries must submit immediate programmes for improvements. The deadline for this is July 17.
Activist hit by truck
On Thursday morning, activists of the group had gained access to the airports in Düsseldorf and Hamburg and temporarily paralyzed air traffic with blockades in the middle of the holiday season. For months, it has been a common form of protest for the group that activists glue themselves to streets or buildings or spray buildings or the like with paint.
Those affected by the protests are reacting increasingly aggressively to the activists. At a climate protest in Stralsund in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, an activist was hit by a truck on Wednesday.
lmd