Hunger strikers call on Germany's Scholz for radical climate action

An activist in Berlin who has been on hunger strike for 30 days has called on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to publicly commit to a radical change in climate policy.

Engineer Wolfgang Metzeler-Kick, who has not eaten since March 7, said he is prepared to die if necessary.

A second activist joined the 49-year-old 12 days ago. They are living in a tent camp in the park in Berlin's government district between the Bundestag and the Chancellery.

With the campaign, titled "Starve until you are honest," they want to ensure that Scholz issues a government statement on the climate crisis saying that the "continued existence of human civilization is extremely endangered by the climate crisis."

The activists are also asking Scholz to acknowledge the problem. "We must now radically change course, albeit years late," their campaign says.

"I am starving for honesty and I am prepared to die so that the truth comes to light," Metzeler-Kick said at a press conference on Friday.

He is ready to "escalate the hunger strike to the extreme."

The next possible step would be to withhold the juice that the two activists are still consuming. If he were to die, the facts about global warming and its consequences - including storms, droughts, floods and famines - would be "torn from the shadows," said the environmental engineer.

According to a doctor looking after the hunger strikers, both are in stable health. In extreme cases, people could survive a hunger strike for 50 to 70 days.

The climate activist group Scientist Rebellion has called on sympathizers to also go without food for one to two days out of solidarity.