Several thousand climate activists protested in Frankfurt on Saturday (September 14) against climate-damaging cars as the city hosts the Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA).

Despite car manufacturers showcasing their climate credentials with new electric cars, the climate protesters are criticising their lack of real climate protection and demanding a proper change in transportation habits.

"We must move away from individual transport to public transport. We must move away from this bigger, faster, further," said protester Hannah Fiederer.

The leader of the Green Party parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Anton Hofreiter, who was also taking part in the protest, criticised electric cars in particular for not being powered by a sustainable power source.

"Electric cars only makes sense if the power come from renewable energy sources. They do not make sense if it come from lignite," Hofreiter told Reuters TV and called again for a fast coal phase-out and use of renewable energy.