In Berlin an estimated 50,000 people have joined a demonstration against nuclear power in the run-up to the German general elections.

The rally was headed by a convoy of 350 tractors, which drove past the office of Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The protestors want Germany to stick to its plan to shut down its remaining nuclear power stations. They fear that if Ms Merkel returns to power in a coalition with the pro-nuclear liberal FDP instead of the anti-nuclear social democratic SPD, her government will scrap the country’s 2001 law to close its nuclear power plants by the mid-2020s.

Ms Merkel argues that nuclear plants are needed to guarantee Germany’s power supply. Opinion polls show a majority of Germans are against nuclear power.