See also: Anti-nuclear movement in Germany
During the chancellorship of Gerhard Schröder, the social democratic-green government had decreed Germany's final retreat from using nuclear power by 2022, but the phase-out plan was delayed in late 2010, when during the chancellorship of Angela Merkel the conservative-liberal government decreed a 12-year delay of the schedule.[3] This delay provoked protests, including a human chain of 50,000 from Stuttgart to the nearby nuclear plant in Neckarwestheim.[4] Anti-nuclear demonstrations on 12 March attracted 100 000 across Germany.[5]On 14 March 2011, in response to the renewed concern about the use of nuclear energy the Fukushima incident raised in the German public and in light of upcoming elections in three German states, Merkel declared a 3-months moratorium on the reactor lifespan extension passed in 2010.[6] On 15 March, the German government announced that it would temporarily shut down 7 of its 17 reactors, i.e. all reactors that went online before 1981.[7] Former proponents of nuclear energy such as Angela Merkel, Guido Westerwelle, Stefan Mappus have changed their positions,[8] yet 71% of the population believe that to be a tactical manoeuvre related to upcoming state elections.[9] In the largest anti-nuclear demonstration ever held in Germany, some 250,000 people protested on 26 March under the slogan "heed Fukushima - shut off all nuclear plants."[10]
