2023-07-11 19:37:00
On Tuesday afternoon, July 11, activists from the last generation paralyzed traffic in large parts of the old town and to and from the Swiss border with a road blockade at the intersection of Europastraße (B33) and Gartenstraße in Paradise. Shortly after twelve o’clock, a dozen young people in orange high-visibility vests sit down at the entrance and exit to the Schänzle Bridge and at the entrance to the city center.
You might also be interested in this Opinion Reaching into the toilet: embarrassing performance by climate activists with faeces goes terribly wrong by Stefan Hilser
Motorists no longer come from the European route to paradise, towards Switzerland and towards Singen. It is well after 3 p.m. before the streets are free again and the traffic chaos that has arisen in paradise and in the old town slowly begins to dissipate.
Some car and truck drivers stand in traffic jams for two and a half hours or more, although the police, who have arrived with a large contingent, are trying to get vehicles past the climate stickers on the road, some of which have traveled to Constance especially for the campaign, at least in two places.
View of the congested Europastrasse, Gartenstrasse branches off to the right. In the background the Schänzle Bridge. | Image: Aurelia Scherrer
Activist: “This is how we can form a rescue alley”
However, not all activists actually glued themselves to the asphalt with a mixture of sand and superglue in the sweltering heat. Some, like Eileen Blum from Allensbach, who works at the Constance Clinic, only hold the hand of a fellow campaigner.
Blum is sitting on the side of the road towards the border crossing. Two of the original five blockers on this lane could have stood up or moved away at any time in an emergency. “In this way we can form a rescue lane,” explains the 22-year-old.
A hammer and a screwdriver are used to try to loosen a hand. | Image: Oliver Hanser
Her comrade-in-arms Regina Stephan (21) has covered her fixed right hand with a wet towel to protect herself from the high midday sun. A driver who is allowed to squeeze past the two calls out her frustration from the open passenger window: “It’s stupid, it’s stupid!”
Stephan came to Constance from Berlin for the blockade – as did 19-year-old Julian Huber, who claims to have been involved in around 40 such actions. When he’s not glued to the streets, he’s studying math.
Julian Huber has already taken part in 40 such campaigns. | Image: Sven Frommhold
Does he still calculate something for the future of mankind? “The chances of success are extremely slim,” he says. The time window for the rescue is just closing, the governments must immediately take drastic measures to protect the climate. And even if Huber has little hope, he hangs in and sticks to it: “I can’t just look the other way and have to resist.”
You might also be interested in this. Konstanz Climate adhesives cripple Konstanz for hours. Here are the pictures of the action
Schweizer wants to pull climate glue from the asphalt
Jared Schiffer (30, attached) is sitting with Lioba Viera (18, not attached) on the Europastrasse in the direction of Singen. Both are from Freiburg. However, Schiffer lived in Constance for a few years, where he ran for the BW climate list in the 2021 state elections. The police first try to get him off the street with oil and a cloth bandage to be pulled under his left hand. It’s useless – but it hurts.
Pain that Oliver Donat from Switzerland feels is only fair. “Your little brother is stupid,” he calls out to those sitting on the street, argues with bystanders and discusses with some of the more than 20 police officers.
Oliver Donat from Tägerwilen discusses with police officers. He was mad at the climate stickers. | Image: Sven Frommhold
He even offers to rip the climate stickers off himself and face the penalty for doing so. “With such actions, they hit the people who can’t help it, who have no influence,” complains Donat in an interview with the SÜDKURIER. “They should stick to the Bundestag or Mr. Scholz!” The 34-year-old from Tägerwilen wanted to visit his seriously ill father in the Constance hospital, as he says, but he got stuck in the traffic jam.
Bundestag member Jung rejects action Andreas Jung (CDU), member of the Constance constituency in the Bundestag, has criticized the action of the last generation: “Climate protection is also about the freedom rights of future generations,” he writes in a first statement. That was determined by the Federal Constitutional Court. In Germany, all citizens have all the rights and opportunities to campaign for this in a democratic manner. “But I have zero sympathy when rules are deliberately broken instead, other people’s freedom is restricted and possibly endangered. Anyone who locks people in cars for hours with such illegal actions in this heat does not achieve anything for climate protection, but only antagonizes people.” This is what the activists write about their action held and only informed the media shortly after 12 o’clock by e-mail. In another message that was sent out during the blockade, the participants explained the reasons again in the afternoon. Eileen Blum, nurse at the Konstanz Clinic and spokeswoman for the protest group: “The climate crisis knows no borders. It’s our time to stop them.” For this reason, they glued themselves to the road at the new Rhine bridge, severely disrupting customs traffic. “For a long time, various environmental organizations from the German side have been calling for a better connection to the rail network in our neighboring countries in order to be able to shift freight traffic from convoys of trucks to trains and thus make it significantly more energy-saving and efficient.” Jared Schiffer, student to become a primary school teacher: “I have worked with children for years. I watched her grow up every day. Always with the knowledge that they won’t have a future worth living in if we don’t finally change something as a society.” He will continue to take to the streets, even if he has to go to prison because of it or will never be able to pursue his dream job. Among other things, the last generation is calling for the introduction of a social council – a committee made up of 160 randomly drawn citizens who nevertheless represent the cross-section of the population and who work out how Germany can become emission-free by 2030.
Hundreds of drivers are stuck in the heat
This is how hundreds of drivers feel this afternoon. With all windows open or with the ventilation running, they try to get through the long mandatory break in full midday sun, while many plans and appointments for the day fall through.
Meanwhile, the police and rescue workers are taking care of the activists – and not just to take personal details and get the young people off the streets. After more than an hour on the heated asphalt, pavilions are sometimes set up to give them shade and not have to work on their liberation in the blazing sun.
Shade for the people on the street was a big issue. For the first hour they sat completely unprotected in the blazing sun on the heat-reflecting street. | Image: Oliver Hanser
Schiffer and Viera also get a roof. Previously, sociology student Yannick Werner and other helpers had given the sun protection for the two by simply standing in front of it. The young man is currently writing his bachelor thesis on climate activism in Constance and is therefore also observing this campaign. “I was asked if I could provide shade and I gladly did.”
Jared Schiffer’s left hand is freed with an electric chisel. | Image: Oliver Hanser
Before police can carry and take away members of the Last Generation, their hands have to be chiseled and in one case sawn free; on the garden road after that is a square hole. The European route has also suffered injuries. And what happens to the activists now? Julian Huber has experience with this: “We usually receive a penalty order against which we appeal so that it goes to court. Solidarity lawyers will then represent us there.”
Liberation with heavy equipment Video: Oliver Hanser
Last generation: Actions in Constance
For the first time, the last generation had blocked a street in Constance on February 14 – or at least tried to. At that time, six activists positioned themselves in front of the Lago shopping center. But only one of them managed to fix himself to the asphalt with superglue. The five others were quickly removed from the street by police officers. “All six were reported for coercion,” as Katrin Rosenthal, spokeswoman for the police headquarters in Constance, said after the action on request.
At the end of April, the last generation had announced that they wanted to paralyze traffic again on Lake Constance after the group’s members had taken part in the protest actions in Berlin. At the time, a press release said: “We are coming to Berlin, bringing the city to a standstill in order to persuade the government to leave.”
Most recently, at the end of May, around 40 members and sympathizers held rallies in front of the district court and on the market place to protest, according to their own statements, for the separation of powers and against the criminalization of climate protection.
1689108132
#Konstanz #Climate #stickers #paralyze #traffic #current #news