Overview
- Residents led by Gries mayor Karl Mühlsteiger staged a court-approved blockade that closed the Brenner A13 to lorries from 09:00 and to cars from 11:00 on Saturday, producing a multi-hour shutdown and a midday rally of about 4,500–5,000 people.
- Police enforced target and origin traffic checks, turned back roughly 219 to several hundred trucks and kept the corridor closed for most of the day before reopening the route in the evening.
- Traffic clubs and authorities had warned of severe disruption, yet many drivers heeded travel advisories so the feared widespread gridlock did not materialise during the closure though agencies forecast a surge of delayed traffic after the reopening.
- Separately, Trenitalia and investigators reported deliberate damage to electrical installations near Domegliara north of Verona that disrupted north–south rail services on the same day and is now under investigation.
- The protest intensifies political and legal pressure over long-term measures such as higher truck tolls, night and weekend bans, rail modal shift and the Brenner Base Tunnel, and it raises immediate questions about managing rebound traffic and protecting local residents from noise and pollution.