Specifically, the activists complain that Freiburg, according to its own statements, is unlikely to achieve this goal. If it were up to Fridays For Future, there should have been more photovoltaic areas on buildings in Breisgau for a long time, more building up in order to reduce land consumption, and the topics of greening and ecological agriculture do not go far enough for them in the Green City of Freiburg.
In addition, there is the problem that, from the initiative’s point of view, the expansion of local public transport is not attractive enough for a mobility transition. Instead of rising prices for single tickets and monthly tickets, as recently announced by the Regio-Verkehrsverbund Freiburg, they are calling for stronger subsidies to enable people to travel more cheaply, perhaps even free of charge, by bus and train.
Demonstration train causes long traffic jams in the evening rush hour traffic around the city center
In order to emphasize their demands, they then rode their bicycles over the Friedrichs- and Schlossbergring onto the federal highway B31. The police had to interrupt the rush hour traffic on the important main traffic axis through Freiburg.
The two city tunnels were closed for safety reasons for the demonstration march from Kirchzarten into the city. There were temporarily long traffic jams in both directions. Many alternative routes through the Freiburg residential areas were partly completely overloaded for a period of around 45 minutes.
A police spokesman on site described the situation during the demonstration as organizationally challenging, but absolutely peaceful from the perspective of the emergency services. The distance rules due to the corona pandemic were also largely observed. Many participants in the bike demo wore a mouth and nose cover until the start of the tour, despite the hot temperatures.
View of the upcoming federal election on September 26th
The protest in Freiburg was part of a nationwide day of action in over 30 cities. Under the motto #Breaking-On Climate, Fridays For Future has joined forces with initiatives for migrants, unions, churches and sports clubs.
According to their own statement, 100 days before the upcoming federal election in autumn they wanted to set a common signal for more social and climate justice. After the movement’s climate strikes had shifted to digital for months during the corona pandemic, it is now announcing weekly protests on the streets again.
(fw)
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