Protests against German car industry rev up
Pressure mounting on auto sector to go green, abandon combustion engines
Pressure mounting on auto sector to go green, abandon combustion engines. PHOTO: ONLINE
FRANKFURT:
Environmental campaigners plan to disrupt the Frankfurt motor show this weekend as Germany's car industry comes under increasing pressure to go green and abandon internal combustion engines.
"The car industry has cheated on diesel and is contributing to the worsening climate crisis," said Gerald Neubauer, a spokesman for the campaign group Campact, which was co-organising a demonstration on Saturday at Frankfurt's biennial International Motor Show (IAA).
Police say thousands of demonstrators are expected to walk or cycle to Frankfurt's Exhibition Centre and activists want to disrupt the car show by blocking the surrounding streets on Sunday.
"We want a revolution in modes of transport," said a spokeswoman for the climate action group Sand in the Gearbox.
The combination of protests and civil disobedience aimed at Germany's car industry shows the sector no longer enjoys the untouchable status it once held as a key driver in Europe's biggest economy.
Diesel-fuelled cars have remained at low levels of popularity in Germany following Volkswagen's massive "dieselgate" emissions cheating scandal of 2015.
The 10-day long IAA show, where the latest automobile trends are being showcased until September 22, is crystallising tensions over the car industry in Germany, where climate change is shaking up the public discourse.
There are already calls to ban gas-guzzling SUVs from German city centres after four pedestrians, including a three-year-old boy, were killed this month when one mounted the pavement in Berlin.
"Such tank-like cars do not belong in cities," tweeted Stephan von Dassel, a Greens politician and mayor of Berlin's Mitte district, where the fatal accident happened.
"They are 'climate killers', even without accidents - every driving error becomes a life-threatening danger for innocent (pedestrians)."
When the Frankfurt car show opened to the press on Tuesday, Greenpeace activists inflated a giant black balloon outside, bearing the inscription CO2.
Then on Thursday at the Volkswagen and BMW stands, protesters climbed on SUVs with signs bearing the slogan "Climate Killers" during a visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
"The automotive industry has still not understood the climate crisis," Greenpeace activist Benjamin Stephan told AFP. "Instead of celebrating fuel-guzzling SUVs, manufacturers must put an end to these urban tanks and shut down combustion engines."
Manufacturers must "get out of petrol and diesel, get out of the combustion engine and reduce the number of cars", added Campact's Neubauer.
The vision for many environmental activists is seeing German cities free of cars.
Environmental campaigners plan to disrupt the Frankfurt motor show this weekend as Germany's car industry comes under increasing pressure to go green and abandon internal combustion engines.
"The car industry has cheated on diesel and is contributing to the worsening climate crisis," said Gerald Neubauer, a spokesman for the campaign group Campact, which was co-organising a demonstration on Saturday at Frankfurt's biennial International Motor Show (IAA).
Police say thousands of demonstrators are expected to walk or cycle to Frankfurt's Exhibition Centre and activists want to disrupt the car show by blocking the surrounding streets on Sunday.
"We want a revolution in modes of transport," said a spokeswoman for the climate action group Sand in the Gearbox.
The combination of protests and civil disobedience aimed at Germany's car industry shows the sector no longer enjoys the untouchable status it once held as a key driver in Europe's biggest economy.
Diesel-fuelled cars have remained at low levels of popularity in Germany following Volkswagen's massive "dieselgate" emissions cheating scandal of 2015.
The 10-day long IAA show, where the latest automobile trends are being showcased until September 22, is crystallising tensions over the car industry in Germany, where climate change is shaking up the public discourse.
There are already calls to ban gas-guzzling SUVs from German city centres after four pedestrians, including a three-year-old boy, were killed this month when one mounted the pavement in Berlin.
"Such tank-like cars do not belong in cities," tweeted Stephan von Dassel, a Greens politician and mayor of Berlin's Mitte district, where the fatal accident happened.
"They are 'climate killers', even without accidents - every driving error becomes a life-threatening danger for innocent (pedestrians)."
When the Frankfurt car show opened to the press on Tuesday, Greenpeace activists inflated a giant black balloon outside, bearing the inscription CO2.
Then on Thursday at the Volkswagen and BMW stands, protesters climbed on SUVs with signs bearing the slogan "Climate Killers" during a visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
"The automotive industry has still not understood the climate crisis," Greenpeace activist Benjamin Stephan told AFP. "Instead of celebrating fuel-guzzling SUVs, manufacturers must put an end to these urban tanks and shut down combustion engines."
Manufacturers must "get out of petrol and diesel, get out of the combustion engine and reduce the number of cars", added Campact's Neubauer.
The vision for many environmental activists is seeing German cities free of cars.