Berlin
Climate activists blocked the escape route: a cyclist was declared brain dead after an accident with a concrete mixer
Emergency vehicles from the police and fire brigade are on Bundesallee in Berlin-Wilmersdorf, where a cyclist was involved in a traffic accident with a truck
© Paul Zinken / DPA
On Monday there was an accident in Berlin between a cement mixer and a cyclist. Climate activists had blocked the escape route. The woman has now been declared brain dead.
A cyclist who was run over by a cement mixer in Berlin on Monday, whose rescue may have been hampered by climate blockades, has been declared brain dead. The police announced this on Thursday, correcting previous information about the woman’s death. She will continue to be treated in intensive care in a clinic.
The woman was hit and run over by a concrete mixer in the traffic accident. A special fire brigade vehicle was stuck in a traffic jam for a long time due to a road blockade by climate activists and therefore arrived late at the scene of the accident.
The protesters from the Last Generation group said after the accident that some of them protested on the city highway and disrupted traffic. The group cannot rule out that the vehicle’s delay “is due to a traffic jam caused by us”. The Berlin police filed criminal charges against two climate activists for, among other things, failure to provide assistance.
While rescue workers were taking care of the woman on Monday, an unknown attacked the 64-year-old concrete mixer driver with a knife. The attacker then fled the scene of the accident. The police announced on Thursday that they had arrested a 48-year-old suspect on Wednesday evening. This should be presented to a judge on Thursday, it said.
Both the cyclist and the truck driver were taken to the hospital on Monday. The truck driver has now been able to leave the clinic.
Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article said the woman had passed away. This was initially reported by the police. Now the officials corrected their information. The woman was declared brain dead. We have adjusted the relevant positions.