Status: 09/24/2021 5:46 p.m.
With more than 400 actions, “Fridays for Future” called for a climate strike – and tens of thousands came. In Berlin there was heavy criticism of the Union and SPD candidates for chancellor.
Under the motto “AlleFürsKlima”, tens of thousands of people nationwide took part in the global climate strike of the “Fridays for Future” movement. According to the organizers, there were more than 400 campaigns across Germany.
In Berlin, the participants marched through the government district of the capital during a demonstration. “Fridays for Future” itself spoke of more than 100,000 people. All over Germany, more than 620,000 people took part in the campaigns.
Germany remains “climate villain”
The founder of the “Fridays for Future” campaign, Greta Thunberg, also traveled to Berlin on the day of the strike. In a speech, the young Swede urged that the 1.5 degree target must be adhered to in order to limit global warming. At the same time, she warned that Germany would still be one of the “greatest climate villains” in the world:
Germany is the fourth largest emitter of carbon dioxide in history, and that with a population of 80 million people.
Politicians could not “invest, build or buy” their way out of the climate crisis, Thunberg said. It takes a change in the system “and the longer you pretend we can solve the crisis within the current system, the more time we lose”.
Sharp criticism of Laschet and Scholz
Luisa Neubauer, one of the best-known faces of the movement in Germany, accused the parties two days before the federal election that no election program contained enough measures to curb global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. “There are no more excuses, we all know that. 1.5 degrees is not negotiable,” emphasized Neubauer.
In her speech, Neubauer directly attacked the SPD and Union chancellor candidates, Olaf Scholz and Armin Laschet. Laschet accused them of lying because of the Union’s inadequate plans for better climate protection. And on a tweet from Scholz, in which he thanked the participants in the climate strike for their commitment, Neubauer countered that it was the government of the SPD politician that was on strike today.
Church takes part in strike actions
In other large cities, too, thousands followed the call to protest for better climate protection. In Hamburg more than 20,000 people came together, in Munich, according to the police, there were also more than 12,000 people.
Representatives from various organizations and from the church also took part in the climate strike. The members of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) came to a rally in Hanover, including Council Chairman Heinrich Bedford-Strohm and Synod President Anna-Nicole Heinrich. As the EKD announced, church parishes nationwide stood behind the climate protest, for example through devotions, prayers or by ringing church bells.