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Protesters in Schkeuditz in front of Leipzig/Halle Airport at the weekend
Photo: Sebastian Willnow / dpa
The protest against the expansion of Leipzig/Halle Airport cannot be calmed down.
Resistance also formed at the Schkeuditz site on Saturday.
As the spokeswoman for the action alliance »Transformation LEJ«, Ronja Freitag, announced on request, more than 300 people later joined the protest procession, including many residents of the region affected by aircraft noise.
About 100 would have occupied an area on which 36 parking spaces for aircraft are to be created, it said.
At the same time, there was also an action at the airport itself: a group of activists climbed under the ceiling of the airport building and put up banners with the inscription »Conversion instead of expansion.
acknowledge climate flight.
Stop deportations,” said the organizers.
»We are not only protesting against the planned airport expansion, but also against the global injustices caused by the climate crisis and which will only be made worse by an airport expansion.«
The alliance “Transform LEJ” – the acronym is the international code for Leipzig/Halle Airport – called for the protest.
It calls for concepts for the redesign of the site with the broad participation of the citizens and staff of the airport.
"We demand that profits no longer be privatized while public money is invested in climate-damaging infrastructure," said alliance spokeswoman Thea Schulze.
Opponents of expanding the airport have been protesting for a long time.
Fewer flights and an ecological turnaround in traffic are required
The protest march stretched from the Schkeuditz S-Bahn station over the DHL site to the planned expansion area.
The demands also included a reduction in cargo flights, less aircraft noise, a ban on night flights and an ecologically and socially just turnaround in traffic.
Alliance spokeswoman Freitag had already outlined the problems that the protesters see in the airport expansion some time ago: All government parties in Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt are officially committed to complying with the 1.5 degree limit, but Leipzig/Halle Airport is polluting the atmosphere annually with several million tons of CO₂ and other pollutants.
"In the midst of the escalating climate crisis, expanding the airport is a sign of absurd environmental policy," she had said.
Instead, companies and projects should be promoted that operate socially and ecologically.
At the same time, among other things, the high subsidies are criticized.
Mitteldeutsche Flughafen AG wants to invest around 500 million euros in the expansion.
Shareholders are the states of Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt as well as the cities of Leipzig, Halle and Dresden.
The planning approval process is currently underway.
kig/dpa-AFX
