Protesters throw cake at Volkswagen shareholders’ meeting

BERLIN – Activists hurled cake at Volkswagen bosses on Wednesday as the German carmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting was disrupted by protests over human rights and climate change.

Outside the hall where the event was taking place in Berlin, climate protesters gathered to put pressure on Europe’s largest car manufacturer to reduce its carbon footprint.

“The science is clear: The emissions from Volkswagen’s planned car sales are beyond planetary limits” was the message held up by activists from the group Scientist Rebellion.

Inside, the meeting itself was interrupted when cake was aimed at Dr Wolfgang Porsche, who sits on Volkswagen’s supervisory board and celebrated his 80th birthday on Wednesday.

A topless woman also interrupted the speech given by Volkswagen chief executive Oliver Blume to criticise the group’s operations in the Chinese region of Xinjiang.

Activists accuse Volkswagen of turning a blind eye to human rights abuses in the region, where the group has a factory with Chinese partner company SAIC.

The Communist Party of China is

accused of detaining more than one million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities

in the country’s western region as part of a years-long crackdown, as well as running labour camps.

China vehemently denies the abuse allegations, while Volkswagen has also rejected suggestions that forced labour is used in its factories.

“A constructive dialogue is important. And a general meeting offers a good opportunity for this,” the company said in response to the protests.

Among shareholders, some lamented Volkswagen’s poor stock market performance despite record profit margins, and the drop in sales in China – a key market for the group – where it is facing increasingly stiff competition from local car manufacturers.
AFP