Around 5,000 people demonstrated in Frankfurt for a climate-friendly future. The Fridays for Future movement called for the protests. The financial sector was at the center of the criticism.
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to the video Central climate strike in Frankfurt
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With several protest marches, activists of the climate protection movement Fridays for Future demonstrated on Friday in Frankfurt against investments by the financial sector in climate-damaging branches of industry. A police spokesman said that around 5,000 people had followed the call for the climate strike by the afternoon. Six so-called “star marches” to the rally site at the Alte Oper went completely smoothly and peacefully. Fridays for Future activist Luisa Neubauer even spoke of 15,000 people on Twitter.
Breaking: We are around 15,000 people on the streets in Frankfurt! 💥 We Strike Against Funding Coal, Oil & amp; Gas and for a policy that banks & amp; fossil industries not courted while they future & amp; Sell planet.
#Strike with us
# ffm1308
The activists, who mostly wore masks, had colorful banners and posters with them. On them were inscriptions like “Planet over Profit”, “Time is running! Climate protection now!” or “If the earth were a bank, you would have saved it long ago”.
“The financial sector is financing the climate crisis and selling our future,” said Paul Brandes from Fridays for Future Frankfurt. “With their investments and loans to fossil fuel companies, the banks create short-term profits at the expense of people and nature and thus prevent the urgently needed socio-ecological transformation,” added his colleagues Jana Voges.
In view of the already noticeable consequences of the crisis in the form of forest fires, heat waves and floods, immediate action is required.
Activists from Fridays for Future from more than 70 cities had registered for the demonstration, originally 8,000 people were expected. There were also representatives from Greenpeace, Seebrücke, Endegebiet, the ver.di youth and the party “Die Linke”.
The police had warned of traffic restrictions before the protests and called for people to bypass the city center and use the bus and train. “Certainly there was interference in traffic, but the big chaos did not materialize,” said a spokesman.
Senckenberg Museum involved
The Senckenberg Natural History Museum invited guests to a climate breakfast at lunchtime. There, scientists exchange ideas with interested parties on various aspects of climate change.
“The current climate report is frightening and shows very specifically that we absolutely have to get on our way immediately,” said museum director Brigitte Franzen. “For us as a museum, it is important that Fridays for Future takes the research-based protest onto the streets and makes it audible.”
With a view to the criticism of the financial sector, Franzen said it was necessary to address how it is managed. But there are also positive developments: “The banks are on their way. They are noticing that things cannot go on like this.”
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