Berlin: Tens of thousands of people from Germany, France, Denmark and Austria staged a rally in downtown Berlin on Saturday to protest against a government plan to extend the operation of the country's nuclear power plants.
Germany's 17 nuclear power plants are due to be shut down by 2020.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) and the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) parties want to extend that deadline.
However, parties like centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) and environment group, Greens, oppose the move.
An organiser of the rally said people fear the CDU and FDP would give a green light to the plan if they win the general election later this month. The two parties are favourites in the race.
The rally from the central railway station to the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin was led by over 300 farming tractors. More than 30,000 people participated in the demonstration, the organiser added.
In 2001, former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of the SPD-Green government had promised to phase out the use of nuclear energy within two decades, despite protests from the industry.
About 23 percent of Germany's energy supply comes from nuclear power, 42 percent from coal, 14 percent from natural gas and 15 percent from renewable energy sources -- wind, solar and thermal.
IANS
First Published: Sunday, September 06, 2009, 09:31