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Demonstrators in Ahrweiler: "We live in ruins"
Photo: Thomas Frey / dpa
Numerous people took part in the first major rally of flood victims in the Rhineland-Palatinate Ahr Valley.
Around 150 to 200 people were on the move in a demonstration in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler.
Among other things, they criticized the often very slow payment of money from the federal and state reconstruction fund for flood victims whose houses were damaged or destroyed.
Many residents are "angry, sad, disappointed and shocked," says the appeal by "Ahr Valley - We're standing up," an association of around 80 people affected.
Some participants whistled loudly and carried banners that read, for example: "We live in ruins" and "We stand up - do not forget us".
The flash flood in July 2021 after extreme rainfall killed 134 people and injured more than 750 people in the Ahr Valley.
Thousands of houses were damaged or destroyed, as were roads, bridges and railroad tracks.
"Many of us are traumatized, the daily sight of the destroyed landscape and infrastructure, especially for our children, makes us very sad," said the call for the demo.
Improvements are slow going.
Politicians defend themselves
The district administrator for the Ahrweiler district, Cornelia Weigand (independent), and the mayor of Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Guido Orthen (CDU), had previously shown understanding in a video.
Weigand admitted that the extensive applications for financial aid, for which sometimes overworked experts had to be asked, "are not easy for everyone to fill out".
But there is help for that.
Orthen said about the cityscape of Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler: "Yes, many areas are still devastated." But the reconstruction is going "at full speed".
ptz/dpa