On Saturday, 18 September 2010 a large demonstration marched through Berlin’s governmental quarter. The largest anti-nuke demo seen in Germany since the years of Chernobyl was organized with impressive rapidity in response to Merkel’s deal with the nuclear power industry.
At the front of the demo were farmers and tractors from the Wendland, where the Gorleben nuclear waste storage site remains a flashpoint for resistance. Generally, middle class people participated in this demo –confirmation of the mainstream character of opposition to nuclear power in Germany.
Organizers claim 100,000 people took to the streets in protest, with various grassroots and activist networks involved, as well as parties. Police countered with 40,000. Hence, this was a mobilization too large to be ignored… The networks are already focused on Gorleben: this year they may actually be able to stop the Castor train with massive blockades.
Nuclear power companies CEOs went into a closed-door meeting with Merkel’s economic minister and party leaders late Sunday morning, on 5 September. When they came out before dawn on the following Monday, the deal was done: Germany’s 17 nuke plants would extend operations for an average of 12 years beyond the currently scheduled shut-down dates, the extensions subsidized with massive state hand-outs.
See also http://scurvytunes.blogspot.com/2010/09/atomkraft-nein-danke.html