BERLIN (AP) 鈥 Thousands of climate protesters, young and old, gathered Friday in Berlin and other German cities to demand tougher government action against global warming, particularly in curbing greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector.
A small pro-business party that controls Germany's Transport Ministry, the Free Democrats, has pushed back against , and massively invest in public transport.
The refusal has frustrated the party's larger coalition partners 鈥 Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats and the environmentalist Greens 鈥 as well as climate campaigners who say .
Among them was retired Protestant pastor Reinhart Kraft, 85, who staged a one-man protest outside the Free Democrats' headquarters in the German capital with a sign reading 鈥淓nd the climate boycott.鈥
Kraft urged Scholz to put his foot down on the issue and praised the young activists who planned a rally in the capital's government district later Friday.
鈥淲e need pressure,鈥 he said. 鈥淎nd I hope very much that the young generation doesn't let up.鈥
His words were echoed by retiree Algisa Peschel, who took part in a rally near the Transport Ministry together with her husband.
鈥淲e experienced the war when we were small children,鈥 she said. 鈥淲e know what destruction means. And this includes the destruction of nature.鈥
Asked about the protests Friday, a spokesman for Scholz said the German government takes its climate goals 鈥渧ery seriously.鈥
鈥淎ll ministries are hard working on them,鈥 said Wolfgang Buechner.
The protests in Germany are part of a global 鈥渃limate strike鈥 called by the group Fridays for Future, which drew inspiration from 's protests outside the parliament in Stockholm.
Darya Sotoodeh, a spokesperson for the group, accused Germany's transport minister of placing too much focus on the country's car industry, at the expense of affordable public transport. Last year the government agreed to introduce a costing 49 euros ($52) a month, but bus and train companies say it is not sustainable without further government subsidies.
Public transit labor unions, whose members went on strike in parts of Germany on Friday to demand higher wages, expressed support for the climate protest.
鈥淲e're standing side-by-side with Fridays for Future,鈥 said Mathias Kurreck of the ver.di union, which also represents public transport transit workers.
鈥淲ith more pressure on the government we can actually achieve the climate goals,鈥 he said.
The was partly blamed on a rebound in air travel as pandemic restrictions eased. The International Energy Agency also warned this week that the trend toward ever for the environment.
Scientists warn that international efforts to limit the average worldwide temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) compared with pre-industrial times are failing.
The consequences of higher temperatures are already being felt in many parts of the planet, including in Europe. Governments in Italy 鈥 which also saw protests 鈥 and France warned this week that after winter brought little rain and snow.
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