Dresden (dpa/sn) - Saxony's Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer sees the planned gas price brake as an opportunity to relax the protest mood in parts of the population. "Now concrete, precise and understandable relief steps are needed," said the CDU politician in a ZDF interview on Saturday. "And the sooner we have that, the better."
When asked how worried he was about the energy protests, Kretschmer replied that one had to keep in touch with the people. "We have a chance to clarify this issue, there is an idea for a gas price brake, a tunnel through these difficult times and now it's a matter of design and it has to be done sensibly."
So far, the planned relief is not yet understandable for many people. "Of course it's unfortunate that we're talking about it now and not four weeks ago, but the federal government must now be given the opportunity to go this route, to cap gas prices and to find a sensible regulation," said Kretschmer.
In Dresden, craftsmen protested against the high energy prices on Friday evening. On Saturday, an "alliance against price increases and crisis profits" called for a large demonstration in Leipzig. Behind it are more than 40 groups - from trade unions to environmental groups to the Left Party. 10,000 participants were registered for the demonstration.
