Nude protest and pie throwing at VW rally

Protests and incidents seriously disrupted the annual general meeting of the Volkswagen Group in Berlin on Wednesday. During the introductory words of the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Hans Dieter Pötsch, someone threw a cake on the stage. This was apparently intended to target the representative of the owner families, Wolfgang Porsche. However, that didn’t work. Pötsch briefly interrupted his speech and continued after the security forces intervened. Afterwards, a pulpy mass could be seen on the white band in front of Porsche’s place on the podium.

Later, a shirtless activist disrupted CEO Oliver Blume’s speech with loud shouts and a poster. The subject of the criticism was VW’s entry into the Chinese factory in Xinjiang province. There the Uyghur minority is oppressed in so-called re-education camps. Volkswagen has repeatedly stated that it is not involved in human rights violations.

The woman was led out of the conference room by security forces. Blume then continued with his comments. Also later, the meeting was briefly interrupted by loud shouting.

The VW plant in Xinjiang has long been criticized. There were also demonstrations in front of the convention building. VW has been accused of not doing enough about alleged forced labor at local suppliers. VW counters that there are no signs of human rights violations at the factory.

For the site, the “last generation” also took part in the protests. Climate activists kept to the road and blocked access roads.

(t online)