accidents
Climate activist blockade delays rescue of injured cyclist
Activists like here at the Frankfurter Tor in Berlin keep sticking themselves to the street in protest against climate policy in order to disrupt the flow of traffic. photo
© Julius Christian Schreiner/dpa
A cyclist is hit by a concrete mixer truck in Berlin. On the way to rescue the injured woman, the fire brigade is stuck in traffic – because of a blockade by climate activists.
According to the fire brigade, a traffic blockade by climate activists in Berlin massively delayed the rescue of a critically injured cyclist. The woman was run over by a concrete mixer on Monday morning in Berlin-Wilmersdorf. Firefighters with special equipment were stuck in traffic due to protests by climate demonstrators and arrived late at the scene of the accident. The climate protest group “Last Generation” said they were dismayed and could not rule out that the delay of the fire brigade was due to a traffic jam they caused.
The woman was pinned under the concrete mixer truck on Monday morning. The truck driver was attacked with a knife after the accident and was injured and taken to the hospital. According to a police spokeswoman, he was attacked by an unknown person when he got out to look for the woman.
According to the fire brigade spokesman, emergency services with a so-called rescue vehicle with special technology, which is used for lifting heavy loads, were stuck in traffic jams on the A100 city motorway for a “quite relevant time”. Since the technology was not available, one had to improvise at the scene of the accident.
The spokeswoman for the climate protest group “Last Generation”, Carla Hinrichs, said the group sincerely hopes that the woman’s health has not worsened due to the delay in the special fire brigade vehicle. “In all our protest actions, the top priority is to ensure the safety of all people taking part.”
Police criticize climate protectors
The police union (GdP) sharply criticized the blockade action by climate protectionists. “Now at the latest you should say goodbye to the fairy tale of harmless protest. Anyone who blocks traffic routes risks and impedes the ability of internal security to act and also consciously accepts that people in need have to wait longer for help from the police and fire brigade,” said spokesman Benjamin Jendro.
Berlin’s Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) said it was now the task of the police and the courts to clarify to what extent the activists were to blame for the fact that the accident victim could not be helped more quickly.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) appealed to the climate activists that their actions should not contribute to endangering others. “I believe that we have to accept a critical attitude, critical protest. It is also obvious that the actions have not met with very wide-ranging applause,” said Scholz.
The same also applies with regard to works of art that would be damaged in the course of protest actions. About a week ago, activists from the “Last Generation” threw mashed potatoes at a painting worth more than 100 million euros in the Barbarini Museum in Potsdam. Nothing happened to the work of art because it was protected by a layer of glass.
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