11-04-2025
Weak turnout for Fridays for Future climate demos in Germany
Turnout was weaker than in the past during the Fridays for Future climate demonstrations at 47 locations in Germany on Friday.
In Berlin, several hundred people rode their bicycles from the Socialist Party (SPD) headquarters to those of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party.
There were about 200 people protesting, according to police estimates.
The two parties, along with the CDU's Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), are expected to form Germany's next government.
On the Schlossplatz in Dresden, participants drew attention to weather-related disasters in recent months with photos and headlines. People also took to the streets in Munich.
Fridays for Future criticized the coalition agreement between the CDU/CSU and SPD.
"It's 2025, and there is still no concept for combating the climate crisis," Frieda Egeling of Fridays for Future Berlin said in a statement. She accused the future coalition partners of virtually abolishing Germany's climate targets.
The organization is critical of the future government's gas supply plan. The CDU and SPD want to "use the potential of conventional domestic gas production" and count greenhouse gas savings abroad towards Germany's climate targets.
In addition, the incoming coalition is sticking to the coal phase-out in 2038.
The three-way coalition of SPD, Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats, under SPD Chancellor Olaf Scholz, had ideally wanted to bring this forward to 2030, but also decided not to set a binding target.
