BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - Protests and incidents severely disrupted the Volkswagen Group's annual general meeting in Berlin on Wednesday. During the introductory words of Supervisory Board Chairman Hans Dieter Potsch, a person threw an object onto the podium. This was apparently intended to hit the representative of the owner families, Wolfgang Porsche. However, this did not succeed. Potsch interrupted his speech briefly and continued after the security forces intervened. Afterwards, a mushy mass could be seen at the white band in front of Porsche's place on the podium.

Later, an activist with a naked upper body disrupted the speech of group CEO Oliver Blume with loud shouts and a placard - the subject of the criticism was VW's adherence to the Chinese plant in Xinjiang province. The woman was led out of the meeting hall by security forces. Blume then continued with his remarks. Even later there was a short interruption of the meeting by loud shouting.

Criticism of the VW plant in Xinjiang has existed for a long time. People also demonstrated against it in front of the meeting building. According to human rights organizations, the Uyghur Muslim minority living in the province is being deliberately suppressed by the government in Beijing. VW is accused of not doing enough against alleged forced labor at suppliers there. VW counters that there is no evidence of human rights violations at the plant./men/DP/mis