Little unscheduled during the annual meeting of the Volkswagen group which was held in Berlin. A group of activists stormed the meeting to protest the company and management of the plant in Xinjiang, China, saying VW uses forced labor to build its cars. In the protest action, one of the activists tried to throw a cake at Wolfgang Porsche, the 80-year-old president of Porsche SE and the largest shareholder of the Volkswagen Group.
Protest against work in Chinese Volkswagen factory
The dessert was missing the man, with the other activists protesting against the alleged exploitations at the Asian factory managed by the Wolfsburg giant and SAIC Motor through a joint venture. Among the activists also a topless woman with the words “Dirty Money” painted on her back.
Criticisms also from environmentalists
Protests also raged outside the Volkswagen meeting building, with some environmentalists accusing VW of making climate-damaging decisions. The men inside interrupted company CEO Oliver Blume’s speech, accusing the company’s top management of denying the problem in China.
Volkswagen rejects the allegations
Just last week the head of the Chinese division of Volkswagen, Ralf Brandstaetter had visited the plant without identifying any particular problems, as reported by Automotive News Europe: “We see no evidence of human rights violations at the plant. I have no reason to doubt my impressions or the information available to me.” The protesters were then escorted out by security, thus allowing the meeting to continue without further ado.
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