The big traffic chaos that had been feared for this Saturday in Munich did not materialize. Because of two large demonstrations, both of which were directed against the International Motor Show (IAA), the police had warned of significant traffic obstructions. As is often the case with demonstrations, the information on the number of participants varies. While the organizers of the bicycle rally, which led on 16 routes into the city, spoke of 25,000 participants and the organizers of a pedestrian demonstration of 5,000, the police estimated the number of cyclists at 10,000 and the number of pedestrians at 3,500 the security forces with up to 40,000 or up to 10,000, who were to meet at the end for a joint rally on the Theresienwiese.
In the evening, police spokesman Andreas Franken also drew a predominantly positive conclusion of the day when a total of 4500 officers were on duty. The only disturbance worth mentioning was near Königsplatz in Luisenstrasse. There two activists of the “Sand in the Gears” alliance against the IAA occupied two trees.
When the demonstration train passed and stopped, initially a confusing situation arose, said Franken. That is why the emergency services had used pepper spray twice, which apparently also affected a photo journalist who was among the demonstrators. Batons were also used by the police to make room and push the demonstrators back. When it became clear after a few minutes that the climbers only wanted to put up a banner between the trees, the police withdrew and allowed the activists to do their thing, Franken said: “If we had known from the beginning what the demonstrators were up to, we would have allowed them permit.”
“We were surprised at how cooperative it was,” said a Robin Wood representative
The police had actually done that in the morning when activists from the environmental protection organization Robin Wood climbed onto two lampposts on Wittelsbacher Platz, behind the Porsche IAA stand, and put up a banner in between: “Full throttle into the climate crisis? Wrecking CARpitalism”. After an hour and a half they took off the banner and climbed down; the action ended without the police intervening.
“We were surprised at how cooperative it was,” said a Robin Wood representative. After the events on Friday, they would have expected worse, added a spokeswoman. The day before, there had been major confrontations between the police and opponents of the IAA in the city; there had been a total of 16 arrests. On Saturday no one was known by the evening.
In Paul-Heyse-Strasse, for example, activists apparently set off a smoke bomb
For the participants in the bike rally, the day had started early, the first group started at eight o’clock in the morning in Augsburg. At 74 kilometers, it had the longest approach. Other cyclists came from Rosenheim, Weilheim, Freising and Grafing. The demonstrators were accompanied by the police along the route, occasionally expressing displeasure and honking horns from motorists who were slowed down. In Munich, the stream of cyclists swelled more and more, for example on Landsberger Straße going out of town there was a traffic jam because no vehicle could turn left because of the cyclists. It took the entourage about ten minutes to pass the intersections. While many passers-by waved, honked and scolded some motorists.
While the cyclists were still moving towards Munich, the kick-off rally for the pedestrian demo began on the Theresienwiese. As the first speaker, Kerstin Haarmann from the Verkehrsclub Deutschland (VCD) called for a massive expansion of local public transport, socially designed mobility and recapturing the streets for people. Barbara Metz from Deutsche Umwelthilfe then accused the German automakers of complicity in climate change: SUVs are in any case no answer to the climate crisis. Marion Tiemann from Greenpeace also criticized: “The IAA is a green lie.” Christoph Bautz from the citizens’ movement “Campact” finally complained: “The car manufacturers have not understood that the answer to the climate crisis is not the turnaround.”
At around 1.30 p.m., the demonstration set out through Munich. Groups like the one from Fridays for Future used the event to point out the next date: the big climate protest on September 24th at Königsplatz. In other places it was rougher. In Paul-Heyse-Strasse, for example, activists apparently set off a smoke bomb, as can be seen in pictures of Twitter users. After the anti-IAA demonstration had been peaceful for a while, in the end there were clashes between activists and emergency services – the situation that police spokesman Franken described.
The rear part of the demos was still on the way because of the stop when the joint final rally of the two events began on the Theresienwiese. Richard Mergner, chairman of BUND Naturschutz, called for “a different mobility policy. We have to distribute the road space in a more humane way. Let’s not just look at Copenhagen, Münster or Paris. In 14 days we have the chance to vote out this miserable transport policy.” Uwe Hiksch from the “Naturfreunde” association said: “We want cars to be finally banned from urban cities. We will take to the streets until the IAA has disappeared from the city.”
It was fitting that the last demonstrators, escorted by the police to the Theresienwiese, chanted: “That was the last IAA!” But basically the mood is more peaceful than expected. “Was it bad,” two spectators ask the police officers who are waiting at the nearby Esperanto Square. “Nope,” replies one of them: “Not really.”