Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Berlin on Saturday for an end to the peaceful use of nuclear energy in Germany. In one of the largest anti-nuclear protesters in recent years, demonstrators marched through the capital's government quarter, waving banners and chanting anti-nuclear slogans.
Spearheading the procession was a convoy of tractors from the Wendland area of Lower Saxony where several nuclear facilities are in operation, including a controversial underground nuclear waste depot in Gorleben. Hundreds of the protesters waved yellow flags bearing the slogan of the anti-nuclear movement of the 1980s: "Atomic Power - No Thanks!"
Among those taking part in the rally were prominent members of the environmentalist Greens Party, including national Chairman Claudia Roth and former Environment Minister Juergen Trittin. The president of Germany's Federal Environment Office, Jochen Flasbarth, expressed support for the views of the demonstrators. Nuclear energy was not a sustainable form of energy, he said in a radio interview.
Nuclear energy is a divisive topic in Germany, with a majority of the population in favour of the country's 17 nuclear power plants being shut down. Under an agreement reached with nuclear plant operators in 2000, the then government decided to phase out the civilian use of nuclear energy by 2020. Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to negotiate and extension of the time limit for the shutdown if she wins re-election on September 27 and forms a new coalition with the pro-business Free Democrats.