- Protestors took over a Swiss Audi dealer in Bern, covering an outside wall in orange paint, and vehicles inside with orange dust.
- The protestors are attempting to draw attention to the Swiss government’s inaction on climate change, which was recently condemned by the European Court of Human Rights.
- The activists said that people will suffer and die because of climate change.
Climate activists in Switzerland entered a Audi dealer in Bern armed with orange dust and paint to raise awareness of what they describe as the inaction of their government to protect its population from the worst of climate change. similar protest occurred at a Porsche Center in Crissier.
The protestors, members of the Liberate Switzerland group, used fire extinguishers and spray guns to cover the outside wall of a Audi dealership in an orange liquid — the same color the group uses in its branding.
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Inside the dealership, the activists targeted a collection of new Audi crossovers, which they covered in an orange dust. It’s not clear how much damage was caused by the action, though the group has used non-destructive methods in the past. In a previous protest at Volkswagen’s auto museum in Germany, they used an orange car cover to draw attention to their cause.
The protestors entered the dealership at around 9:00 a.m. local time on Friday, April 12, reports Switzerland’s 20 Minutes. Liberate Switzerland, formerly known as Renovate Switzerland, has launched its protests in response to a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights.
Early in April, the court condemned Switzerland for violating human rights by not taking enough action to combat climate change. The European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI) reports that the court found that the nation is not respecting the rights to quality of life of its citizens due to its inaction.
In the past, Liberate Switzerland has created roadblocks by having members glue their hands to the street, in an attempt to draw attention to the dangers of the climate crisis. Among previous participants in the group’s actions were Julia Steinberger, a co-author of the UN’s International Panel on Climate Change report.
“Car are destroying our climate,” one of the protestors said in front of the Porsche dealership. “It’s much too hot for April. This summer will be horrible, there are people who are dying and suffering. We are here to demand that the government take responsibility and that the population mobilizes itself. We must act now.”
