As of: February 25, 2024, 4:53 a.m
By: Johannes Welte
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Press
Split
The morning after the major traffic chaos on the Brenner motorway due to the severe onset of winter, there was another traffic jam on the transit route: the last generation blocked the southbound lane.
Innsbruck/Bozen - The Brenner motorway had not experienced a weekend like this for a long time: On Friday (February 23rd) it snowed heavily from late morning and continued into the night.
When there was 40 centimeters of snow at midday, traffic came to a standstill and 150 trucks lying sideways blocked the roads.
By evening, 70 centimeters of snow had fallen.
By midnight, the trucks were rescued, the snow was cleared, and the traffic jam, which was around 30 kilometers in both directions, cleared up.
The day after the snow chaos, there is a climate blockade in holiday traffic
On Saturday morning (February 24th) traffic was running as usual again, holidaymakers returning from the ski areas were able to drive home through the winter landscape.
The next guests came in the opposite direction, which is called changing beds.
At 10:20 a.m., a colorful crowd suddenly gathered on the road towards Italy between the Schönberg toll booth and the Matrei-Steinach junction.
A dozen young people had put on orange high-visibility vests and were playing saxophones, trumpets, timpani and flutes.
In front of them, activists unrolled a banner that read “Right to Survive.”
The Innsbruck Street Noise Orchestra and the Last Generation Austria positioned themselves on the highway to draw attention to climate change.
Austrian activists stick to sticking strategy
In Germany, after the farmers' protests, the Last Generation decided not to undertake any more blockade actions after farmers blocked motorways and motorway entrances.
According to the police, around 20 people are protesting at the Brenner Pass in weekend traffic, and five to six activists have stuck themselves to the street.
“We all have a right to survive.
Climate protection must be anchored in the constitution, as the Climate Council and the climate referendum have long been calling for.
As long as this right is not respected, we will protest,” said spokeswoman Anna Freund in a press release.
After around half an hour (at 10:50 a.m.), the unannounced meeting was broken up and the street was reopened to traffic, a police spokesman reported to the APA news agency.
The traffic jam slowly cleared up.
Last generation activists block the Brenner motorway in Austria the morning after the winter chaos.
© Last Generation Austria/Moritz Holdinger
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Conservatives and right-wingers are outraged by the protest
It was the third climate blockade on the Brenner motorway.
There is strong criticism of the activists from Tyrolean politics: “Yesterday's nerve-wracking snow chaos is followed today by negligent chaots,” complains State Security Councilor Astrid Mair from the conservative ÖVP to the APA.
She describes the approach as “irresponsible and dangerous” given the “challenging traffic situations”.
The federal government “will not be able to avoid harsher penalties for climate adhesives,” she called for consequences.
Markus Abwerzger, regional leader of the right-wing populist FPÖ, criticizes Justice Minister Alma Zadic (Greens) in Vienna, saying the activists “can no longer stand under the protective cover of the minister, but these chaotic people must be effectively combated legally.”