Climate change activists threaten to disrupt Austrian Grand Prix
F1 News
- Ludo van Denderen
Hundreds of thousands of people will travel to Spielberg again at the end of this month, where the annual Austrian Grand Prix is scheduled at the Red Bull Ring. Perhaps their journey towards the circuit will not go entirely smoothly, with fears that climate change activists will be on the access roads and will cause delays.
Austrian police are at least taking that into account, the Kleine Zeitung reports. Indeed, there are indications that climate activists are using the race to protest - as they did a year ago, doing so by glueing themselves to the road surface. Removing them from that will take some time, but Austrian police expect adequate action to be taken in the event of protests.
No danger for activists on track
Arresting known activists in advance is not something the authorities do. The police confirmed to the newspaper that protesting is a fundamental right. But after some point, the protest must be over and, moreover, the organisation of the Grand Prix (where 300,000 fans are expected over three days) must not go haywire.
Fearing that the climate stickers will also come onto the track during the race and then stick to the asphalt, the police are not. It is assumed that security measures at the Red Bull Ring are so strict that no one will manage to get over the fence on the track.
This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy