A truck driver in Germany was allegedly fired after video appearing to show him running over climate protesters surfaced online, Yahoo News reported.
Please don’t kill peaceful protesters for blocking your vehicle!
You don’t have to stay calm, but assault is illegal.
Protesters don’t like that they have to do this either.
But they are desperate because nothing really worked the past 40h years.pic.twitter.com/1oDzy85tj1
— Leon Simons (@LeonSimons8) July 13, 2023
The video shows two protesters sitting in a crosswalk with a large orange sign. The driver gets out of his big rig, shoves them, and drags one of them onto the sidewalk before getting back into his truck. He then hits the gas. pushing the protesters forward with his truck.
The driver later handed himself over to German authorities who confiscated his license, reports Yahoo. A court will decide whether or not he will lose the license permanently. (RELATED: Climate Activists Trigger Dozens Of Flight Cancellations After Gluing Themselves To Airport Runways)
The man, identified only as a 41-year-old male, was a driver for gas supplier Air Liquide, according to Yahoo. Following the incident the company terminated his employment, according to German-language news outlet Focus. “We informed the forwarding agency directly that this driver should no longer drive for us,” said a company spokesman, according to Focus.
While the truck driver is being investigated for assault, the protesters are also under investigation for violating the assembly law and suspected coercion in road traffic, according to Yahoo. “Specifically, we are investigating dangerous interventions in road traffic,” police spokesman Marcel Opitz said, according to Focus.
Police indicated that nobody was seriously harmed, reports Focus.