climate crisis

Protests by climate activists continued on Wednesday morning with new lockdowns in Vienna.

The blockade began at around 8am, 30 minutes after law enforcement officers, who, according to their own Twitter statements, were “on duty with increased forces,” were clearing the activists’ hands from the roadway they’d been on. stuck . According to the ÖAMTC, a huge traffic jam had formed in both directions in a short period of time: on the inner belt it extended to the Margareten belt, but was already starting to clear up as motorists switched to other routes. On the outer belt, the vehicles lagged behind as far as Thaliastrasse/Lerchenfelder Strasse in Ottakring. The surrounding lanes of the Belt were also clogged. By around 9.30am the police had broken the blockade and twelve people were arrested.

After some activists had been in police custody for a long time on Tuesday, it was initially unclear to what extent today’s action had taken place. “Handcuffs and prison won’t stop us for sure. It’s about our future, it’s about people who can still live a good life on this earth in a few decades. This is what we are fighting for and we won’t let anyone stop us.” , 29-year-old electrical engineer Jacob was combative.

The blockade had caused resentment among road users. At least one passerby attacked the activists, as shown in a video released via Twitter. Police said they were not at the scene at the time of the attack. Police spokesman Daniel Fürst told APA that the incident was known, that police had initially filed bodily harm charges against unknown persons and were trying to find the attacker. According to Fürst, the twelve activists will be released after the formal hearing. As in recent days, you have to wait for administrative notifications.

Activists accused the government of “refusing to speak”. “Despite the disastrous greenhouse gas balance and the emerging failure to meet all climate targets, the simplest and cheapest measures such as 100 km/h on the motorway should not even be discussed”, reads a broadcast of “Last Generation “.

The “LobauBleibt” movement criticized the governor of Lower Austria Johanna Mikl-Leitner (ÖVP) in a broadcast. Their traffic block safety summit the day before was a “climate criminalization summit.” Environmentalists have called for “an end to the dangerous agitation against the climate movement, leading to attacks like today’s”. Already on Monday during a demonstration of “LobauBleibt” one person was doused with the contents of a bottle of bleach and injured.