Witness History
Witness History
The anti-nuclear protesters who won
Up next
July 31, 2019
10 minutes
Available for over a year
In 1980 the Bavarian government announced plans to build a nuclear reprocessing plant in Wackersdorf in southern Germany. Eight years later construction on the plant was halted after a sustained protest campaign which saw tens of thousands of demonstrators and sometimes violent clashes with the police.
Lucy Burns speaks to local district administrator Hans Schuierer, who became a figurehead for the protests.
Picture: demonstrators fight against police during a protest at the Wackersdorf construction site (Istvan Bajzat/DPA/PA Images)