Ioannis Sakkaros
DusseldorfA few weeks ago Ioannis Sakkaros was still a simple shift worker at the sports car manufacturer Porsche, Meanwhile, the 26-year-old is known to a wide audience. Last week, he was even invited to the Maybrit Illner TV show – alongside Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer, the top car lover Bernhard Mattes and Green boss Robert Habeck, Unusual honor for a young man who, asked for his job, likes to say “screwdriver”.
The native Greek owns a Euro 4 diesel. Since the driving ban at the beginning of the year These cars are no longer allowed to enter Stuttgart. The young man with mustache, short haircut and distinctive glasses finds this unfair. Sakkaros began to organize demonstrations, always on Saturdays. First came 250 people, then 700, then 1 200. And wear each time more and more demonstrators modeled on the French protest movement yellow vests.
“We do not want to spoil the mistakes of politics and industry,” says Sakkaros. He continues to expect a massive influx and believes that the action can grow into a supraregional protest movement.
The new “rage citizens”
Current club events
Politically, the self-proclaimed tribune of the people does not want to be taken in by any party. He is annoyed that the driving restrictions disproportionately affect ordinary citizens. His favorite example: A family of four with a net income of € 2,000, of which € 1,000 rent goes out.
“There’s not much left for a new car,” says Sakkaros. The inscriptions “expropriation” and “arbitrariness” on the posters at the demos express bourgeois discomfort. “Free Diesel” or “We Are Diesel” are the lowest common denominator among the driving prohibition opponents, who are increasingly becoming new “rage citizens”.
Sakkaros has already registered over a dozen events. By April, he wants to persevere in any case. From there, residents of the city center are no longer allowed to drive with their old diesels. Sakkaros lives on a busy street in the west of Stuttgart. Martin Buchenau