What an eventful week! We joined Fridays for Future for the global climate strike in Munich and Hamburg as well as Ende Gelände for their (bi-)annual days of action.
The demonstration in Munich sadly had to be cancelled at short notice due to an increasing number of COVID-19 cases. Safety first. Instead, the team at Fridays for Future Munich organised a group of 500 volunteers to form a symbolic picture at the Theresienwiese. #KeinGradWeiter.
The demonstration in Hamburg, on the other hand, was a great success due to it’s well thought-out hygiene concept. Around 16,000 joined the call for action – all that despite the fact that the social security office of Hamburg tried to cut down the demonstration to 2000 people just hours before the demonstration, bringing to risk the whole event. Fortunately, the court agreed with the organisers from Fridays for Future, banning the cut-down.
But how does a safe large-scale demonstration work in times like these? We were able to examine and safeguard the hygiene concept in action as on-site stewards, and we are very happy with the result: all participants kept on their masks without exception and kept safe distance between each other. Participants were separated into blocks of 250 people and overseen by stewards. The safety distance of 2 metres, of course, was also maintained inside each block.
Finally, we joined the powerful days of actions organised by Ende Gelände. Due to the pandemic, participants were divided into smaller groups. Around 3,000 activists successfully blocked numerous coal and gas infrastructure projects in Rhineland. Moreover, many activists then continued to their next destination, the Dannenröder forest, to safe it from being cleared for yet another highway.
A review by Kevin from the Klima Café.