Climate protectors temporarily brought the flow of traffic to a complete standstill on Tuesday at Vienna’s Praterstern. 18 activists were arrested and only released from police custody in the evening. The police were in action with a large contingent. The activists received support from around 50 scientists who showed solidarity with them.
They had met in the morning at the Tegetthoff memorial for an “unconventional press conference”. The appointment, scheduled for 8 a.m., only started following a quarter of an hour, with “a great delay, like Austrian climate policy,” as the initiator Reinhard Steurer, professor of climate policy at the Vienna University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (Boku), noted. Steurer reminded media representatives of the federal government’s failed climate targets, the only positive development over the past three years was the drop in 2020 due to the “corona effect”, since then the minus in the greenhouse gas balance has increased once more. In 2021, the amount of greenhouse gases emitted in Austria rose once more, by 3.5 million tons. According to the Wegener Center, however, in order to achieve the climate neutrality targeted for 2040, an annual minus of 4.5 million tons of CO2 would have to be achieved.
According to the researchers, including the “Scientist of the Year 2022”, Franz Essl, the federal government made up of the ÖVP and the Greens is currently unable to meet international obligations and its own goals for climate protection. Therefore, the group from different disciplines showed solidarity with the demands as well as with the peaceful and non-violent protest of the “last generation”. Civil resistance is now being responded to as a “fire alarm”, even if it is annoying.
Big action at the Praterstern
Shortly following 8:15 a.m., the activists who had been addressed then began to resist once more and stuck to or sat on the zebra crossings. Three police vehicles had meanwhile also parked near the monument – what followed was probably the largest action of the “last generation” so far. Because not only the access to the Praterstern via the Praterstrasse in Vienna-Leopoldstadt was blocked, but all access roads were blocked to spread the message “Yes to 100 km/h on the Autobahn, no to fracking in Austria” once more.
“We are working with increased forces to end the disabilities as quickly as possible,” tweeted the Vienna police. The number of emergency vehicles alone exceeded that of the activists by an estimated factor of two, and following regarding half an hour a helicopter was also circling over the Praterstern.
Florian Wagner, spokesman for the “Last Generation”, told the “Austria Press Agency” that all of the 18 climate protectionists who blocked the building were arrested and taken to the police detention center (PAZ). According to the police broadcast, the blockades lasted around 45 minutes. As in the past, persons stuck to the road were detached from the asphalt using special means. Those arrested were not released from the PAZ until the evening.
Increasing penalties
Among them was Martha Krumpeck, co-founder of the organization. She has already had to serve an alternative term of imprisonment imposed on her for repeated traffic blockages. Krumpeck and three fellow campaigners blocked the passage through Exhibition Street before a plainclothes police officer announced the dissolution of the unreported meeting and set a deadline of two minutes to investigate the request. This procedure was not chosen on all of the five affected traffic sections, but some activists were also removed without announcement – according to Wagner, a divergent approach on the part of the executive is not uncommon. (apa)
The penalties would, however, become ever higher, starting in Vienna with administrative penalties of between 50 and 100 euros and 150 euros in repeated cases, the fines for a current action in Graz would already amount to over 1,000 euros – the trend is also in the federal capital rising. In any case, the sentence would always be appealed in order to achieve a reduction, the spokesman for “Last Generation” reported. The police announced that they would prescribe the costs of the operation to the participants. Already in November, the executive had declared that the offsetting of operations is provided for in the Security Police Act if persons are grossly negligently exposed to a danger that affects their life or health, such as being stuck on a busy road.
The blockade action led to massive effects on the already dense morning traffic in the entire area around the Praterstern on Tuesday, a spokesman for the ÖAMTC reported. There had already been an accident on the southeast tangent (A23) at the Prater junction, which caused a backlog to Vösendorf on the southern autobahn (A2) and to the airport on the eastern autobahn (A4). In addition, at 7.40 a.m. a fire alarm was triggered by a technical malfunction in the Kaisermühlen tunnel, which was then closed for a little less than an hour. The effects on the Danube bank motorway (A22) were corresponding. As far as any hindrances to rescue operations are concerned, the “Last Generation” said that the Viennese professional rescue service had been informed in advance of today’s climate protests.
State party chairman Karl Mahrer (ÖVP) had no understanding for the renewed actions of the activists, they “only produce more fine dust and also stir up hatred and violence,” he commented on the climate protests in a broadcast. (apa)
