Regan Brown
A viral image has been circulating on social media, claiming to show Germans abandoning their cars in the street in protest of high fuel prices. The photo, which was taken in 2010 or 2012, actually depicts a massive traffic jam in Shenzhen, China, during the Mid-Autumn Festival. While German citizens have protested fuel price increases in the past, there is no evidence of a recent mass abandonment of cars as depicted in the viral image.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Date of the claim | Since 2017 |
| Location | Germany |
| Number of cars | Over a million |
| Time taken | One hour |
| Outcome | The government lowered the fuel price |
| Image source | RexFeatures.com |
| Image description | A September 2012 traffic jam in Shenzhen City, China, during the Mid-Autumn Festival |
| Image credibility | False |
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What You'll Learn
- Viral photo of a mass car abandonment in Germany due to rising fuel prices is fake
- The photo in question actually depicts a traffic jam in China
- Germans have protested fuel price increases in the past, but not recently
- The most recent fuel-related protest in Germany asked for greener energy sources
- German citizens have used large-scale protests to block access routes to major cities
Viral photo of a mass car abandonment in Germany due to rising fuel prices is fake
A viral photo that purportedly shows Germans abandoning their cars en masse in protest of rising fuel prices is fake. The image, which has been circulated on social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, and Sina Weibo, is often accompanied by a caption claiming that German citizens successfully protested against fuel price hikes by leaving their cars on the roads.
However, the photo in question actually depicts a massive traffic jam that occurred in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China, during the 2012 Mid-Autumn Festival. This is confirmed by the fact that the steering wheels of the cars in the photo are on the left side, which is standard practice in continental Chinese provinces. Additionally, the facial features of the people in the picture appear more Asian than German, and no similar protests involving car abandonment have been reported in Germany in recent years.
The original photo is available for sale on the British agency Rex's website, and it has been reported on by British newspaper The Telegraph in October 2012. Despite the false claim, German citizens have indeed protested fuel price increases, although the most recent protest on a similar scale occurred 18 years ago.
It is important to be cautious and verify the accuracy of information before sharing or believing viral content on social media, as it can often be misleading or false. This example highlights the potential for misinformation to spread rapidly across online platforms.
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The photo in question actually depicts a traffic jam in China
A viral image of a supposed protest in Germany where citizens abandoned their cars on the road to protest a fuel price hike is actually a photo of a traffic jam in Shenzhen, China. The image, which has been shared on Facebook and WhatsApp, includes a caption claiming that the German government reduced fuel prices after seeing a million abandoned cars on the road. However, this story is not true. The photo was taken in 2012 during a massive traffic jam in Shenzhen, a city in the Chinese province of Guangdong. The steering wheels of the cars in the photo are on the left side, which is standard practice in continental Chinese provinces such as Guangdong.
The traffic jam occurred during the "Golden Week," an eight-day holiday in China. Chinese politicians had granted free road travel by suspending motorway tolls, resulting in a significant increase in the number of drivers on the roads. Twenty-four major motorways in 16 provinces were transformed into parking lots as 86 million people took to the roads, a 13% increase from 2011. This was the first time in a decade that China's motorways had been toll-free.
The original photo of the traffic jam includes road signs in Chinese characters and is available for sale on the British agency Rex's website. The photo was also used by British newspaper The Telegraph in an article about the traffic jam published on October 1, 2012. While Germany has witnessed protests against fuel price hikes in the past, the most recent fuel-related protest took place in November 2017 during the UN conference on climate change in Bonn. Protesters at this event asked for fossil fuels to be replaced with greener sources of energy, not a decrease in gas prices.
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Germans have protested fuel price increases in the past, but not recently
While German citizens have protested fuel price increases before, the claim that Germans abandoned their cars on highways as a form of protest is false. This claim was accompanied by a viral photo supposedly showing German citizens abandoning their cars on a highway. However, the photo was actually taken in China during a massive traffic jam in 2012.
In 2008, German motorists expressed anger at rising fuel prices, with the price of petrol breaking through 1.50 euros ($2.30) per litre for the first time. Opposition politicians called for a cut in fuel taxes, which made up a significant portion of the price.
In May 2018, amidst rising fuel prices in India, a message began circulating on social media and WhatsApp claiming that German citizens had successfully protested a fuel price hike by abandoning their cars in the middle of roads, forcing the German government to reduce fuel rates. This claim was accompanied by the photo taken in China in 2012.
The most recent fuel-related protest in Germany occurred in November 2017 in the context of the UN conference on climate change (COP23) in Bonn. Protesters asked for fossil fuels to be replaced with greener sources of energy, not a decrease in gas prices.
Germany's high dependency on Russian gas has become a serious cost burden for German industries and households, with the average price of gas for households increasing more than threefold from the first quarter of 2021 to the fourth quarter of 2022.
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The most recent fuel-related protest in Germany asked for greener energy sources
Germany has been facing an energy crisis, with its economy suffering due to disruptions to Russian natural gas imports since the invasion of Ukraine, the closing of nuclear power plants, and a slow transition to renewable energy sources. In the past, German citizens have protested fuel price hikes, although the viral social media posts claiming that Germans abandoned their cars on roads and highways to protest fuel prices are false. These images are actually from a massive traffic jam in Shenzhen, China, in 2012.
The most recent fuel-related protest in Germany did indeed ask for greener energy sources. Germany's decision to phase out nuclear power was prompted by public concerns following nuclear accidents in the United States (Three Mile Island in 1979), Ukraine (Chernobyl in 1986), and Japan (Fukushima Daiichi in 2011). This decision to transition to renewable energy sources has had substantial implications for energy prices, even before the post-invasion energy shortage.
Germany has long relied on cheap Russian gas, which accounted for a third of West German gas supplies after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. As Germany's energy market liberalized, Russian gas became a favored energy source for industry, and German leadership viewed it as a "transition fuel" to renewable energy sources. However, this dependence on Russian gas made Germany complacent, and they ignored calls to diversify their gas supply.
As a result of the energy crisis, Germany's outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz introduced a €200 billion scheme in 2022 to bring down the country's energy prices at the start of Russia's war with Ukraine. This was met with a strong backlash from across Europe, as it involved softening the strict EU spending rules that Germany had previously demanded.
In March 2025, Germany's upper house of parliament approved a historic change to the country's basic law, allowing for a €500 billion fund for infrastructure and green energy. This decision has caused friction with Germany's EU allies, who are concerned about the impact of Germany's increased spending on their own economies, as well as the potential for German companies to gain an advantage with state subsidies. Despite these concerns, Germany remains committed to phasing out nuclear power and transitioning to renewable energy sources, with the government planning to invest in advanced nuclear technologies and fusion reactors to achieve its net-zero targets and broader climate commitments.
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German citizens have used large-scale protests to block access routes to major cities
It is unclear whether German citizens have used large-scale protests to block access routes to major cities, but an image that has been circulating online since at least 2017 claims to show a protest in which Germans abandoned their cars in the street to protest high fuel prices. The image, which shows a million abandoned cars, is often accompanied by text that claims:
> In Germany, the government has increased fuel prices. In just one hour of time people had abandoned their cars on streets and avenues and walked home. [...] They had to lower the price.
However, this image does not show a protest in Germany, but a massive traffic jam in Shenzhen City, China, in 2012. The steering wheels of the cars are on the left side, which is standard practice in continental Chinese provinces, and the people in the photo appear to be Asian, not German. While German citizens have protested fuel price increases in the past, there is no evidence of a large-scale protest involving the abandonment of cars.
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Frequently asked questions
No, this is not true. Although German citizens have protested fuel price increases in the past, the claim that Germans abandoned their vehicles on the highway as a form of protest is false.
The viral photo that was shared on social media and WhatsApp was of a traffic jam in China and not a protest over fuel prices in Germany.
Yes, there have been a few large-scale protests in Germany over fuel prices. The most recent one took place in November 2017, in the context of the UN conference on climate change (COP23) in Bonn.
