Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Munich on Saturday against the holding of the G7 summit which begins on Sunday in the region, urging its leaders to do more for the climate.
About 4,000 people, according to the police and 6,000 according to the organizers, gathered at the call of about fifteen NGOs for the defense of the environment and the fight against inequalities.
However, turnout remained well below expectations. The organizers had planned 20,000 people for this gathering behind the slogan: “climate crisis, species extinction, inequalities: equity is something else!” “.
Defenders of the environment and alterglobalists wanted to make their voices heard before the leaders of the seven most industrialized countries on the planet meet until Tuesday at the Château d’Elmau, a hundred kilometers away, at the foot of the Alps. Bavarian.
In the colorful crowd of activists but also nature-loving retirees and young people concerned about the climate crisis, slogans were brandished on placards: “We only have one planet”, “Save the world, not your ass ! », « More renewables, no war ».
“What are you doing to get out of fossil fuels more quickly? What are you doing to stop species extinction faster? “, launched Viviane Raddatz of the NGO WWF, calling on the heads of state and government of the G7 (Germany, Canada, United States, France, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom).
“G7 countries are responsible for a third of greenhouse gas emissions despite representing only 10% of the world’s population,” said Illayda, 21, a member of WWF’s youth organization. .
“In India, people are dying because the temperatures reach 50°,” said Fiona, a young Greenpeace activist.
A large police force has been deployed in the center of Munich as the German authorities want at all costs to avoid the violent outbursts which had largely tarnished the G20 summit in Hamburg in 2017.
Burned cars, looted stores, clashes between police and “black blocks”, the violence had largely overshadowed the debates between leaders.
At the end of the parade, sporadic incidents punctuated the Munich demonstration, opposing heavily equipped police and a group of demonstrators all dressed in black posing as the “anti-capitalist bloc”, noted AFP.
Police required some to uncover their faces after making an arrest, she said.
Other protest actions targeting the G7 summit, organized under very high police protection, are planned, including a parade on Sunday in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the small town closest to Elmau.