Hundreds rally in Berlin for action against climate change
Berlin, Aug 16 (EFE).- Hundreds of people on Monday took to Berlin’s government district calling for policies to tackle climate change, in response to forecasts of a record increase in greenhouse gas emissions.
The rally, organized by Extinction Rebellion, inaugurates a week of protests to demand commitment to fighting climate change, one of the main causes behind July’s severe floods that claimed 180 lives.
“The government wants to prevent at any cost protests related to climate change before the elections,” the organizers said on their website.
The protesters, mostly young people, carried banners reading “Climate crisis = mass murder,” “Climate protection is not illegal,” and “Reduce CO2 or explode.”
Police bodies have been deployed equipped with water tanks to ensure compliance with coronavirus-related guidelines, from masks to social distancing.
“We have a particularly large police force in front of us. We are being watched in a one-to-one ratio,” the organizers denounced.
The increase in Germany’s greenhouse gas emissions is expected to hit a 30-year high as the economy is recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the German think-tank Agora Energiewende.
Germany’s emissions would spike by the equivalent of 47m tons of carbon dioxide in 2021, the highest since 1990, their report stated. EFE
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