From BZ/dpa
Climate stickers from the Last Generation group blocked a large roundabout in Berlin during rush-hour traffic.
Several people stuck to the road and stopped traffic on Ernst-Reuter-Platz both in and out of town, as a dpa reporter observed on Friday. A truck got stuck in a meadow as it tried to drive past the blockade.
The police initially only announced that ten people had been on the road since around 4 p.m. and were holding up traffic. The activists themselves said they entered the roundabout from several approaches and unfurled banners.
The blockade at Ernst-Reuter-Platz Photo: REUTERS/Michele Tantussi
“Even after the clear warnings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change last week, both the Berlin government and the federal government are consistently on course for climate collapse,” the statement said.
The Easter holidays began in almost all federal states on Friday, so a lot of holiday traffic was expected for the afternoon.
The B2, which runs through Ernst-Reuter-Platz, is one of the most important access roads to the A100 and A115 motorways in western Berlin heading south.
Travelers must expect a lot of traffic at the beginning of the holiday
The traffic information center assumes a high volume of traffic, especially for Friday rush hour, and advised on Twitter “if possible not to start the journey until later in the evening or on Saturday morning”. The ADAC expects a lot of traffic, especially on the A2 and 24 motorways towards the North and Baltic Seas, as well as on the A9 towards the south. It also usually builds up on the Berliner Ring.
“The busiest travel times are always in the mornings and afternoons,” said the ADAC spokeswoman for Berlin and Brandenburg, Claudia Löffler. If you want to get by better, you should avoid these times. In the direction of Easter, travelers should not drive on Maundy Thursday if possible. Löffler called on motorists to think about the rescue lane when traffic is slow and congested.
There is also a lot going on at BER
Capacity utilization should also be high in regional and long-distance traffic, as well as at the capital’s airport BER. The operators are expecting a total of around 1.15 million passengers from this Friday and over the next two weeks, according to the Berlin-Brandenburg airport company. Around 77,000 passengers are expected on the main travel days at the beginning and end of the two-week vacation.
All areas at the airport had prepared intensively for travel, said the managing director responsible for operations, Thomas Hoff Anderson, on Friday. Those responsible recommend travelers to be there around 2.5 hours before the flight starts and to book a time slot for the security check online.