Mass rallies in Germany demand faster shift to renewable energy

BERLIN: Thousands of people demonstrated acr­oss Germany on Saturday, urging a faster shift to re­­newable energy and accusing conservative Chancel­lor Friedrich Merz’s coalition of putting the brakes on the transition.

In Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg and Munich, crowds took to the streets, waving placards with slogans such as “renewables are our life” and “escape the fossil fuel trap”.

A coalition of campaign groups organising the demonstrations said about 80,000 people took part nationwide, although police gave lower figures.

“The war in Iran and exploding energy prices make it very clear once again that we need to free ourselves from fossil fuels as quickly as possible,” Christoph Bautz from campaign group Campact, which helped organise the protests, told AFP at the Berlin demonstration.

He claimed that Eco­n­o­­my Minister Katherina Rei­­che, from Merz’s centre-right CDU party, was seeking to slow down the shift to renewables, which he said is “completely out of touch with the times and serves only the oil and gas industry”.

Merz’s coalition, and in particular Reiche — a former energy company executive — have come under fire over various policies, including support for watering down EU-wide car emissions rules and their plans to build more gas-fired power plants.

The chancellor argues that steps are needed to ease the burdens on Germany’s struggling manufacturers.

Luisa Neubauer, a leading figure in the Fridays for Future movement in Germ­any, told AFP at the Berlin demonstration that she was “positively surprised” by the number of people who had turned out.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2026

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