“We will continue until our demands are met”

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Half past six in the morning. It’s still dark. The TCS reports 15 kilometers of traffic jams at the Gotthard – waiting time: two hours and 40 minutes.

The activists of the Renovate Switzerland group are already on their way to Göschenen UR. You control the train. They planned their action months in advance. Max Vögtli (30) nowadays speaks of “Switzerland’s most famous traffic jam”, of the “national focus”. That means: minimum effort, maximum attention.

Vögtli was born in Basel, grew up abroad and until recently was a commercial employee. He left his job to fully focus on Renovate Switzerland. He holds weekly information evenings and provides nonviolent resistance training.

Hours before the Gotthard action, sympathizers of the movement are on the ground, look around, take pictures and pass the information on to the activists. “It is important that we do not hinder emergency operations with our blockade,” says Vögtli. In such a case they want to cancel.

From Göschenen train station, the seven go to the Autobahn. Via Gotthardstraße, past the roundabout, down to the A2. Everything is ready when the activists are in front of the cars at 10.07 am. They wear fluorescent vests, make themselves big, occupy one job after another. Just like they learned in training. At the start of their action, they notify the police and medical services.

Among them are students, an osteopath, a molecular biologist, a machinist, a physical education teacher. Age: between 19 and 64 years. You stand there with your name and face. Are willing to be explicitly mentioned. “We don’t hide,” says Vögtli. He’s proud to be part of the movement: “I’m finally doing something. No more speeches, no more blah blah.”

Five are incarcerated. Vögtli acts as a peacekeeper with a second activist, approaches the motorists, explains what is going on and tries to present their demands: Switzerland must declare a climate emergency and optimize one million houses in a climate-friendly way by 2040.

The vote is loaded. Middle fingers are shown. Annoyed drivers try to carry the protesters off the street themselves, an angry woman tears the posters off them. Vögtli is not impressed: “If people want to get rid of their frustration, they should be able to.”

Sometimes tears also flow

He has been involved with Renovate Switzerland for over a year and was involved in the blockade on Zurich’s Utoquai and on the Lorraine Bridge in Bern. He witnessed how a driver tried to squeeze between two activists during the blockade of Hardbrücke in October 2022. Sometimes there are very emotional moments, he says: he cried when fellow activists were carried away.

After ten minutes two police cars are on site, they have all the necessary equipment with them. The policemen pour sunflower oil on the hands of the trapped people and separate the skin from the asphalt centimeter by centimeter with a strip of paper. “The police were careful and correct,” says Vögtli. He has different experiences.

Six activists are carried away and taken to the post in Göschenen in a police car. Vögtli is also arrested. Half an hour after the action, at 10:40 a.m., all lanes have been released and the tunnel has been released again.

While the activists wait for their interrogation, the traffic jam grows. First 16, then 17 kilometers. At 12:33 pm it reaches its peak with 19 kilometers. Waiting time: three hours. Traffic chaos in Valais because many motorists take alternative routes. The police speak of a huge traffic jam.

The anger at the activists on social media is much greater than the traffic jam in front of the tunnel. lock up! Treat like terrorists! SVP National Councilor Mike Egger will keep an eye on this. His party colleague, the transporter Benjamin Giezendanner, explains in the “Tages-Anzeiger”: “Keep it up. Travelers now know who to vote for in the fall.”

civil resistance

Vögtli says: “We are in a climate crisis and nobody is talking about it. We don’t do it for fun, we do it because it’s our only option.” The action, according to a statement from Renovate Switzerland, “marks the return of civil resistance to Switzerland’s climate”.

Just before 1 pm, the activists post a photo on Twitter, they are sitting relaxed on a staircase, some are smiling. Coats and bags are searched at the post and everyone is questioned. You are threatened with a charge of coercion, disobeying instructions from the police, violating the Road Traffic Act and entering the Autobahn.

The activists can leave the post at 3.30 pm. For the Gotthard tube, the metal avalanche continues. Traffic will only reopen after 9 p.m.

What’s next? Do they stay on the highway on Easter Monday in Airolo TI?

Vogtli laughs. He could not talk about concrete plans. But this much is guaranteed: “We will continue until our demands are met.”

Source:Blick