The Story

A 44-year-old cyclist has died after being hit by a cement mixer on a main street in Berlin.

Although hundreds of cyclists die on German streets every year without the public paying much attention, this casualty has become the focus of intense national debate due to the suspicion that a nearby climate protest might have contributed to her death.

What exactly happened?

On Monday morning, Berlin’s fire service dispatched one of its two vehicle lifters to the scene of the accident, after the woman’s leg had been caught underneath the cement mixer.

But the rescue vehicle got caught in a traffic jam that had been caused by two activists from the group Letzte Generation climbing onto a gantry over one of the city's busiest interchanges. As is normal during such protests, police closed the road while they brought the protesters down. 

Even though an emergency lane had been left in place, the rescue vehicle arrived at the scene of the accident around seven minutes later than it would have…