Opponents of the International Motor Show IAA Mobility are currently protesting at several locations in downtown Munich. Already in the morning IAA opponents collided with the police on the Theresienwiese. Emergency forces pushed the activists back. As BR reporters report, batons and pepper spray were also used. The police have since confirmed this. According to BR information, several people were injured.
Protesters occupy house in the city center
Meanwhile, the IAA opponents are protesting at several locations. The situation is confusing, said a police spokesman. According to their own statements, activists have occupied an empty house in Munich’s Karlstrasse. Protesters sit in trees and rappel down from house walls. The police stopped the protest march in Karlstrasse and, according to their statements, surrounded the activists. The emergency services use pepper spray again.
“We can no longer accept that half of the inner city is made available to the auto industry while there is a lack of space for non-commercial cultural and political projects,” said Fritzi Krämer, spokeswoman for “No Future for IAA” in a press release. According to their own statements, the activists want to organize a content-related and cultural program under the motto “Open Space for Future” in the occupied house.
According to their own information, a small group of IAA opponents had also blocked Blue Lane on the A94 in the meantime. There were also rappels again. The activists are calling for a radical change in traffic – away from the car and towards collective forms of mobility. This included free local and long-distance transport as well as well-developed and safe bike paths.
Police: Protesters wanted to break through police line
According to the district administration department, a “moving meeting” with 350 participants was registered and approved in advance. The demonstration should start at 10 a.m. at Theresienwiese and end with a final rally under the motto “The city belongs to us” on Goetheplatz at 2:30 p.m.
As police spokesman Andreas Franken reported to the BR, a larger group from the protest camp tried to penetrate a police cordon before the authorized meeting began, which the officers objected to and pepper spray and batons were used. “It was not clear to us whether it was a meeting or a planned disruptive action. At this point in time, no dialogue had been held with us,” said Franken. There were also masked people among the demonstrators.
Activist raises allegations against politicians and the police
The spokeswoman for the action alliance “Sand in the Gears” raises allegations against politicians and the police. “Today we see here in Munich that politicians are massively defending a car lobby that has been deliberately burning up our climate for decades,” said the activist, who goes by the name of Lola Löwenzahn, to the BR. That is a scandal. However, she did not give details of the police procedure. Regarding the protest movement’s approach, the activist said that a mass action of civil disobedience had been started, divided into small groups, to block places where the climate was being gambled. Proceed calmly and prudently, but firmly. Politicians and the police deliberately let the situation escalate.