Last Generation climate protesters have caused widespread traffic disruption in the German capital. "We will no longer accept that the government has no plan to stop the destruction of our livelihoods," the group said.
Activists protesting at what they see as too sluggish government action to combat climate changeglued themselves to streets all over the German capital, Berlin, on Monday, causing severe traffic disruption.
The group behind the protests, Last Generation, is calling on the German government to take more drastic measures to cut greenhouse emissions, including stopping the use of all fossil fuels by 2030 and imposing an overall speed limit on highways.
German climate activists vow to peacefully disrupt Berlin
02:19
As usual it shared a series of videos of its protesters in action online, typically examples of what it said was police being heavy-handed removing them, or of angry commuters reacting to them.
What action are the activists taking?
A Berlin police spokeswoman said there had been protest actions at 33 locations in the city, describing the situation as "dynamic."
One protest took place on the highway partial ringroad, the Bundesautobahn 100, where activists had glued themselves to the asphalt, she said.
The road blocks began at 7:30 a.m. (0530 GMT/UTC), a peak traffic period.
The main areas affected in the morning were the districts of Spandau and Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf.
According to the Berlin police, up to 500 officers were set for duty on the streets all day to prevent or disperse blockades.
The protests come after the group said last week that its members would expand its actions and try to "peacefully bring the city to a standstill." Late last week they had held a series of events mainly targeting government buildings in Berlin.
The activists said Monday they would also march very slowly through the city later in the day, as they already did on Friday, to disrupt traffic as much as possible.
On Sunday, Last Generation activists delayed the start of a Formula E race in Berlin when they attempted to glue themselves to the course at Tempelhof airport. They climbed the security fencing as cars were starting their formation lap before the start and briefly made it onto the track.
Security personnel prevented them from staying on the asphalt for very long and the race started with only six minutes' delay.
Drivers asked whether the protesters were aware they had targeted an all-electric series.
"I thought it was pretty ridiculous," Abt Cupra driver Nico Müller said. "I don't know if these people realize what we are doing here."
The group has said it intends to continue with its blockades in the coming days.
Keep these in mind as you contemplate the direction of the American government over the past 50 years and especially since the Obama election.
The Goals of Communism
(as read into the congressional record January 10, 1963, from "The Naked Communist" by Cleon Skousen)
1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.
2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.
3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament of the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.
4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.
5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.
6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.
7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.
8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.
9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.
10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.
11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)
12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.
13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.
14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.
15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.
16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.
17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.
18. Gain control of all student newspapers.
19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.
20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.
21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.
22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."
23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."
24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.
25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.
26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."
27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."
28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."
29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.
30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."
31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.
32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.
33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.
34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.
36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.
37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.
38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand.
39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.
40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.
41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.
42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems.
43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.
44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.
45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike.
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