An activist sticks himself to the asphalt in Göttingen.
He succeeds so well that the emergency services cannot detach him - and move in with heavy equipment.
Goettingen - A climate activist sticks himself to the roadway at a crossroads in Goettingen on Friday, March 3 - the hand cannot be released.
The “solution” comes with the fire brigade.
Emergency services are removing a layer of tar.
On Friday afternoon, following the "Fridays For Future" demo, several climate activists glued themselves to the street at the otherwise busy Geismartor intersection.
But this time the action unexpectedly lasted longer than usual.
Climate activist uses two superglues in Göttingen
One of the climate activists is Lukas Krönke from Göttingen.
It's not the first time he's been involved in a sticking campaign.
But while the hands of the other participants can be detached from the asphalt within a few minutes by the fire brigade with vegetable oil, the detachment does not work in the conventional way for Lukas Krönke.
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Stemming loose: The hand of climate activist Lukas Krönke from Göttingen cannot be removed from the road on Friday, March 3rd.
Fire brigade forces are lifting a piece of the roadway.
© Stefan Ramffel
Because he stuck his left hand so firmly to the zebra crossing with a mixture of two superglues that it couldn't be loosened with the fire brigade's oil, even though the emergency services proceeded patiently and carefully.
Firefighters try in vain to loosen the hand with oil
"For 45 minutes we tried to free the hand with the oil from the asphalt without pain," says Wolfgang Schmalstieg, head of the security department at the Göttingen professional fire brigade.
"Since this didn't work, we had to come up with something else." And that's unusual: So the fire brigade decides not to take their hand off the asphalt, but to separate the road surface layer from the base layer by hand.
Without further ado, two employees from the city of Göttingen's construction depot are called in.
They approach with rough equipment: Stemmer and Motorflex.
First, the asphalt is cut squarely around the hand.
The fire brigade forces then continue to work patiently and carefully with hammer and chisel so as not to injure the man.
Hearing protection, a helmet, goggles and a blanket protect the young man from flying rocks and the cold.
After two hours it's done - climate activist in Göttingen with rare hand jewelry
After two hours it's done: Climate activist Krönke is freed from the road.
However, he initially carries a piece of the road around with him as a hand ornament.
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Water cooling: The action after a demo at the Geismartor in Göttingen lasts two hours.
The helpers from the fire brigade proceed carefully so as not to injure the climate activist Lukas Krönke.
© Stefan Ramffel
"It's exhausting every time, it's not fun at all, and I don't like doing it," says Krönke about his blockade actions.
"But I see no other way to draw attention to the issue of climate protection and our government's inaction in this regard."
Göttingen climate activist has broken off his biology studies for his actions
The "last generation" demands the establishment of a society council, a speed limit of 100 km/h on German autobahns and a continuation of the 9-euro ticket in local public transport.
He recently gave up his biology studies for his actions.
In any case, the freed activist Krönke expressly praises the work of the fire department: "I had nice conversations about the climate with the firefighters," he says.
Operations manager Schmalstieg agrees: "All the activists were very friendly and polite.
The mood was relaxed.” Relaxed – that applies to Lukas Krönke in particular.
Climate activist praises Göttingen's emergency services - hand remained almost intact
With the asphalt block on the palm of his hand, he is then examined in the ambulance.
However, he refused to go to a hospital.
As a result, he goes home with the piece of asphalt in his hand.
There he frees his hand independently with lots of hot water and oil.
"Releasing it took a long time and it hurt a little, but my hand is mostly unharmed," reports Krönke, relieved.
For fire brigade operations manager Wolfgang Schmalstieg it is the first operation of this kind on Friday evening. "I have never experienced anything like it."
Bauhof employees repair the road in Goettingen
Lukas Krönke, on the other hand, has glued himself to the streets in several cities, but has always been able to be freed quickly.
But he doesn't want to give in after his "tar hand experience": "I will continue to block the streets with such actions," he says.
Nothing is known about the costs and how they will be taken over.
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Finish: At the end, employees of the city's building yard plug the hole with cold asphalt.
A piece of road remains at hand.
Climate activist Lukas Krönke goes home with it and frees himself from his piece of jewelry.
© Stefan Ramffel
Incidentally, the damaged road is repaired quickly and without further ado by the building yard employees using a shovel with cold asphalt from a bucket.
And traffic can roll again, even over the plugged hole.
The drivers waiting in the rush hour traffic are not amused this Friday in Göttingen, where the crossing at the Groner Tor is also partially blocked - they will not be able to laugh at Lukas Krönke's tar-hand story either.
(Stefan Rampfel/Thomas Copytz)
List of rubrics: © Stefan Rampfel
