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Activists occupy the track in front of a chemical company in Brunsbüttel
Photo: Jonas Walzberg / dpa
Climate activists protested on Saturday in Brunsbüttel, Schleswig-Holstein, against the construction of a liquid gas terminal.
In several groups they demonstrated in particular against the use of fracking gas and for more efforts in the fight against the impending climate catastrophe.
Railway lines leading to the ChemCoast Park industrial site were temporarily blocked, as was the Kiel Canal in the afternoon.
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The initiative Fridays for Future as well as the organization “Endegebiet” participated in the campaigns.
The protests were supported by the Green Youth and the Left Party.
»The climate crisis has long been a reality.
Anyone planning a fracking gas terminal is playing with fire.
Gas is a fire accelerator of the climate crisis, "said" Ende Terrain "spokeswoman Joli Schröter.
According to the organizers, the actions were also about solidarity with the people of the Global South who are particularly affected by climate change, as well as with people from areas where fracking gas is extracted.
After an initially peaceful start, there were minor scuffles with the police around noon, who were represented with a large contingent.
"So far there have not been any major clashes," reported the Itzehoe Police Department in the late afternoon.
Stones pelted at protesters
The individual groups referred to themselves as "fingers": the "yellow finger" blocked a chemical plant of the Sasol group, the "pink finger" blocked the access roads to the plant of the Norwegian chemical company Yara.
According to the Itzehoe police department, activists were pelted with stones from there, possibly by security personnel.
The police also tried to keep the demonstrators away from the site of the gas terminal in Brunsbüttel.
Pepper spray was also used, activists reported.
According to her, a group managed to temporarily stop shipping traffic on the Kiel Canal in canoes in the afternoon.
According to the organizers, the number of participants in the protests was limited to 2000.
When it seemed to be increasing, a travel stop for the protest camp built near Brunsbüttel was announced on Friday afternoon.
The Left Party took the protests as an opportunity to demand better protection for parliamentary observers of demonstrations.
Their status and their often mediating role in conflicts have recently been disregarded several times.
Left parliamentary group leader Dietmar Bartsch also criticized the increased "criminal prosecution of democratically elected mandate holders".
Left-wing MP Lorenz Gösta Beutin took part in the protests in Brunsbüttel as an observer.
There have already been criminal proceedings against him in connection with protests against the Datteln IV coal-fired power plant, said Bartsch.
sem / AFP
