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Protest actions on seven highways in Germany! “Block Friday instead of Black Friday!” It is the motto of angry people who pretend to be environmental activists. They display banners on motorways and rappel down from motorway bridges onto the lane to protest the controversial expansion of the A49 near Kassel and the associated Dannenröder forest clearing. That’s why there were full closings.
It was not until October that a serious accident occurred during a blockade and rappelling action on the A3 between Idstein and Bad Camberg that a 29-year-old did not notice the end of the traffic jam in time. He was seriously injured!
Meanwhile, he has been transferred to a rehabilitation clinic, where he continues to receive intensive medical care and cannot yet be questioned. According to the prognosis of the doctors, it will retain considerable damage. Road haters, whose rappelling action caused the accident, are silent before the police and the prosecutor.
On October 13, a man bypassed a traffic jam caused by blockages and ran towards a truck at the end of the traffic jam, seriously injured.
Photo: Jürgen Mahnke
On the short message service Twitter is the call that seven motorways should be blocked throughout Germany. According to the tweet, the A2 near Braunschweig, the A4 near Dresden and Jena, the A7 near Hüsby and Kassel, the A49 near Kassel, the A20 near Tribsees and the A485 near Gießen are affected. The A4 in Jena was blocked in the direction of Chemnitz because two activists cordoned off a bridge there.
The A7 between Kassel-Ost and Kassel-Mitte was completely closed until 9.30am. M. Two activists still hang from a steel structure of the bridge and have chained themselves there. However, the highway can be traveled on two lanes in both directions. The 4-kilometer traffic jam has been dissolved.
Ulrike Schaake, Police spokesperson: “Now we are awaiting the arrival of the special forces. These specially trained height rescuers are supposed to get the protesters off the bridge safely. ” It may take a while for them to arrive, because actually practically all the climbing police in the Dannenröder forest have been assigned to logging, which is still there today.
At Giessen, the A485 is still completely closed. The three tied activists have been chained. A police “high-altitude intervention team” is also waiting to arrive here. Cars get stuck for miles on the Giessener ring. Traffic chaos reigns throughout the city.
Two activists next to a banner on a bridge over the A4 near Dresden
Photo: Olaf Rentsch
The A485 near Gießen was completely closed because several people had displayed banners on the bridge (at the Grünberger Strasse exit). Three activists had tied up and four people were arrested on the bridge.
In addition, environmentalists abseiled on the A2 near Braunschweig and Hannover, the A4 near Dresden and the A20 near Tribsees in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and the A7 near Schleswig in Schleswig-Holstein.
Backstory: Fight for the Dannenröder Forest
The planned section of the A49 leads from Stadtallendorf to Gemünden (Felda). Around 64 hectares of forest will be cut down for this purpose, of which 27 in the Dannenröder forest. The forest area is privately owned and, according to Hubertus Bieneck, operations manager of the forest owners’ association Schenck zu Schweinsberg, covers an area of around 1,000 hectares.
Environmental and climate protectors consider the highway project outdated because it gets in the way of a traffic change. Proponents, on the other hand, expect less traffic noise in surrounding villages, shorter distances for commuters, and a more direct connection to the road network for businesses.
Environmentalists have been protesting for over a year, setting up protest camps and blockades in the forest. According to the Vogelsberg district, construction of the highway should start in September 2021.
