Climate activists abseil from bridges, halt Frankfurt rush-hour traffic
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[October 26, 2020]
BERLIN (Reuters) - Climate activists
abseiled from bridges near Germany's financial hub Frankfurt on Monday
in protest at the planned expansion of a motorway, causing backed-up
traffic on busy roads during the morning rush hour.
The activists called for a stop to the clearing of part of the
Dannenroeder forest, which they refer to as "Danni", to make way for a
highway.
The felling of trees in the forest, which lies in a nature protection
area north of Frankfurt, started this month and police removed activists
from tree houses they had built in protest.
At a bridge crossing the A5 motorway on Monday, masked activists hung
from ropes, holding a banner saying: "No planes. No cars".
Police and rescue teams were working to bring the protesters down from
the bridges. The motorways affected were the A3, the A5 and the A661,
all busy commuter routes around Frankfurt.
"Since 7 o'clock this morning, traffic on these three motorways in both
directions has been partially halted, causing traffic jams as long as 10
kilometres (6.2 miles)," a police spokesman said.
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A traffic jam is seen as activists (not pictured) hang on a bridge
of A5 highway near Frankfurt, Germany October 26, 2020. REUTERS/Kai
Pfaffenbach
"Cars and motorways are yesterday's technology, which causes
countless casualties through accidents and climate change,"
Extinction Rebellion Germany said on Twitter, urging politicians to
make transport policies more climate friendly.
(Reporting by Reuters TV, Kirsti Knolle, editing by Ed Osmond)
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