According to a spokesman, emergency services from the Berlin fire brigade arrived late at an accident site in Berlin-Wilmersdorf due to protests by climate demonstrators. With a so-called rescue vehicle with special technology, which is used to lift heavy loads, for example, the colleagues had been stuck in traffic jams on the A100 city motorway for a “quite relevant time”, said spokesman Rolf Erbe on Monday of the German Press Agency. “This delayed the rescue.”
According to the spokesman, the special technology should help to rescue a critically injured cyclist who fell under a concrete mixer in an accident in Berlin-Wilmersdorf on Monday. After the accident, the truck driver was attacked: According to a police spokeswoman, the man was attacked with a knife by an unknown person and injured when he got out to look for the woman. According to the police, it was initially unclear how the accident had happened.
The climate protest group “Last Generation” said they were dismayed and could not rule out that the rescue vehicle’s delay was due to a traffic jam they caused. “We sincerely hope that your health has not worsened due to the delay,” said spokeswoman Carla Hinrichs. “In all our protest actions, the top priority is to ensure the safety of all people taking part.”
Berlin’s Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) again criticized the actions: “There is no justification for endangering the lives of others,” she told Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB). Whether the activists are to blame or not remains to be clarified by the judiciary.
On Monday morning, climate demonstrators again blocked traffic in several places in Berlin. In Munich, where blockades also took place, the police took several activists into preventive custody.
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