After a call from the climate movement Fridays for Future, tens of thousands of people took to the streets around the world for more climate protection. According to the organizers, more than 280,000 participants were out and about in Germany. However, the local police information was in some cases significantly below the figures provided by the organizers.
The call was supported by many nature and environmental protection associations. It was the organization’s eleventh global strike since its inception in 2018.
“We have the knowledge, so let’s get started”
There were campaigns in more than 270 cities nationwide. The largest demonstrations took place in Berlin and Hamburg. According to the organizers, more than 36,000 people gathered in the capital in Invalidenpark near the government district.
“I want a hot date – not a hot planet”: poster at the rally in Berlin
The Fridays for Future activist Luisa Neubauer called out at the rally: “Anyone who thinks that there is no way out, only despair remains. Anyone who knows that there is another way can get started and act. We have the knowledge, so , Let’s start.” The author Marc-Uwe Kling (“The Kangaroo Chronicles”) and the band Von Wegen Lisbeth also performed.
Climate protection activist Luisa Neubauer speaks to journalists during the climate strike in Berlin
More than 15,000 people in Hamburg on the streets
In Hamburg, the organizers spoke of 19,000 participants, the police of 15,000. On banners and posters, the demonstrators called for “1.5 degrees for the climate” and “toll on air miles”. The activists are demanding that the Hamburg Senate make the city climate-neutral by 2035, free the city center from private transport and review climate protection measures quarterly.
The “school storm” was started in Freiburg
One of the largest actions in Baden-Württemberg took place with around 8,000 people in Freiburg, according to the police. The activists started the protest day with a “school storm” at about a dozen schools. In small groups, they disrupted the lessons with megaphone announcements and loud music to motivate the students to take part in the demos. Press spokeswoman Elisabeth Gehrmann complained that it was noticed that fewer and fewer schoolchildren were taking part in the campaigns. Teachers had a mixed reaction to the action.
In the Danish capital Copenhagen, too, people responded to Fridays for Future’s call
A central concern of climate protectionists in Germany is the establishment of a state special fund for climate protection amounting to 100 billion euros, which is modeled on the special fund for the German armed forces. A permanent nine-euro ticket is also required.
People demonstrate on all continents
The top climate activist Greta Thunberg had already gathered with some of her fellow campaigners in front of the Swedish parliament in Stockholm early on Friday morning. Thunberg shared impressions of various climate protests around the world on Twitter, including protests in Rome, Venice, Tokyo and in deadly flood-hit Pakistan. Her Kenyan comrade-in-arms Kevin Mtai released a video of a climate protest on a boat on Lake Victoria.
People demonstrated on all continents, and researchers even took part in Antarctica and the Arctic. The actions were under the motto “People not Profit” (people, not profits).
nob/jj (dpa, afp)
