Climate protection groups from the group “Uprising of the last generation” continued their protests for a rapid energy transition in Berlin on Thursday. Starting shortly after 8 a.m., around 65 demonstrators blocked the crossing at the Frankfurter Tor in Friedrichshain. In doing so, they blocked the way for car traffic on Frankfurter Allee and Karl-Marx-Allee as the central axis in the eastern center. According to the police, about 45 activists stuck to the asphalt.

According to the traffic information center, the blockade in the morning quickly led to longer traffic jams in all directions around the square. Only the tram and cyclists could continue. Some drivers reacted angrily. A large part of the car traffic from the eastern parts of the city drives through this intersection in the morning towards the city centre, and many commuters were affected by the blockade.

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The police were there quickly and began carrying the activists away in the course of the morning. Those who were stuck should be separated from the asphalt with solvent. According to a police spokeswoman, the identity of all those involved will then be determined. Further measures must then be decided individually.

The district mayor of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Clara Herrmann, supported the protest. This emerges from a video that the group posted on Twitter. She came to Frankfurter Tor in the morning “to show that there is solidarity and that we have to tackle the climate crisis together,” said the Greens politician.

“Frankfurter Tor blocked in all directions,” the radical activists also announced on Twitter. “The civil resistance against the government failure in the climate emergency is in the heart of Berlin today.” Addressing Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, they added: “You took office as climate chancellor – speak your mind against new North Sea oil!”

The protest is directed against possible new oil drilling in the North Sea. For this reason, the group had already smeared the facade of the Chancellery with black paint on Wednesday.

The group referred to a Tagesspiegel interview with Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner from March. In it, the FDP politician questioned the coalition agreement not to issue “new permits for oil and gas drilling” in the North and Baltic Seas.

“Due to the development of world market prices, this seems to be becoming more economical,” said Lindner in view of the Russian attack on Ukraine. “In view of the changed geopolitical background, I think it is advisable to examine our country’s entire energy strategy without any restrictions.”

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The Ministry of Economics, led by the Green Robert Habeck, was also open to an examination. “We are examining whether and under what conditions an increase in oil and gas production in Germany is possible in the short term,” Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, Oliver Krischer, told the Tagesspiegel at the time.

The “Last Generation” had announced actions for the whole week. As with previous protests, the group blocked around ten exits from the A100 city highway on Monday and Tuesday. Some of the demonstrators stuck to the streets.