Live music by Malik Harris and Mayberg, a La Ola wave of very young to fairly old people that quickly rushed from Königsplatz to Stiglmaierplatz: According to the organizers of Fridays for Future (FFF), around 10,000 people are on Friday came to the climate strike in downtown Munich. With music, many self-painted signs and clear messages, they called on politicians to finally act on climate protection.

“It’s actually not that complicated. We just want a world worth living in. This requires grounding to be limited to 1.5 degrees,” said keynote speaker Leo Köppl. When it comes to implementation, “social justice and climate protection” must be considered together and “the climate crisis must be understood as a question of justice”. The call for a climate strike in many cities in Germany this Friday was expanded by a broad alliance of organizations. “Students, NGOs, anti-capitalist movements, social organizations and cultural organizations,” said FFF spokeswoman Ronja Hofmann.

Much to the annoyance of many participants, a fight is suddenly on the agenda again that they thought had already been won: Because of the Ukraine crisis, politicians are currently debating longer lifetimes for nuclear power plants. Karin Wurzbacher, an opponent of nuclear power, expressed her anger about this on stage. “The forces that are vehemently drumming up the drums for a return to nuclear power in the past have hindered the expansion of renewable energies and the construction of power lines, especially in Bavaria,” she said. Nuclear power not a second longer than the legal phase-out requires, that was the message at Königsplatz.

The anti-nuclear block played a prominent role in the climate strike this time, but the demands of the Fridays for Future movement go far beyond phasing out nuclear power. “The federal government must now complete a 100 billion euro package for climate and security,” said Klara Bosch from FFF. “This is intended to start a renewable energy offensive, to expand socially just public transport and to pay compensation to countries in the Global South for the irreparable damage.”