Activists threw cake at the chairman of the supervisory board of Porsche Holding at the Volkswagen annual general meeting on his birthday.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin The annual general meeting of the carmaker Volkswagen has been disrupted several times by protests by political activists. During the speech by the chairman of the supervisory board, Hans Dieter Pötsch, a chocolate cake flew in the direction of the supervisory board member and family patriarch, Wolfgang Porsche.
Wolfgang Porsche is celebrating his 80th birthday this Wednesday and is about to serve another term on the supervisory board of the VW Group. Porsche just missed the cake.
After a brief irritation on the podium, the event initially continued, but was disrupted again a few minutes later.
When CEO Oliver Blume began his speech, at least two demonstrators protested loudly against the company’s involvement in the Uyghur region of Xinjiang in western China. An activist removed her top and displayed a banner that read, “End Uyghur forced labor at VW.”
In both cases, the VW security service stepped in and escorted the people out of the meeting room.
The activist was led out of the building by security forces.
(Photo: Lazar Backovic)
An alliance of various activist groups claimed responsibility for the actions. With the actions, they wanted to “set a sign against the exploitation and destruction that the company is continuing to promote in the name of the dividends of its shareholders,” the alliance wrote in a press release.
VW Annual General Meeting: Adhesive protest prevented by the police
Even before the start of the general meeting, there had been protests and attempts to disrupt climate activists. The police prevented the attempt by representatives of the group “Scientist Rebellion” to stick themselves on the square in front of the City-Cube. In a leaflet, they accused Volkswagen of selling “too many cars”. The CO2 emissions from the transport sector have reached an alarming level. VW could make a positive contribution to the traffic turnaround by switching production to trains and rail infrastructure.
(Photo: Lazar Backovic)
Representatives of the “Last Generation” group, which is known for its numerous roadside campaigns, wanted to block traffic to the site of the Volkswagen shareholders’ meeting. Handelsblatt reporters on site witnessed blockade attempts on two of three possible access roads. However, on one of the temporarily blocked roads, traffic was diverted to the oncoming lane.
Representatives of the Uyghur minority in China also protested on site. The action, organized by the World Uyghur Congress, displayed banners accusing the Chinese government of human rights abuses. The umbrella organization of critical shareholders has taken up the issue and submitted a motion against the discharge of the VW board.
The activists criticize the outflow of funds to the company owners, which could be used for a faster transition to e-mobility.
(Photo: Reuters)
Volkswagen operates a plant in Urumqi in the Uyghur province of Xinjiang in western China. The production site with just a few hundred employees has been repeatedly criticized by environmental and human rights activists. They accuse the company of not adequately protecting the rights of the Muslim Uyghur minority.
The group is also not switching its model range to electromobility quickly enough.
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