Action at BER Airport: Merz calls climate activists “criminal”

Status: 11/26/2022 1:11 p.m

After the action of the “Last Generation” at BER Airport, SPD Prime Minister Woidke is demanding legal consequences. CDU leader Merz even speaks of “heaviest crimes” by climate activists. A sociologist sees things differently.

The CDU chairman Friedrich Merz has sharply condemned the latest action by the climate protest group “Last Generation” at the capital’s BER airport. “These are not climate activists, they are criminals,” said Merz at a party conference of the Berlin CDU. “It has nothing to do with the right to demonstrate or freedom of expression. It’s sheer vandalism,” he said. “These are the most serious crimes that discredit the goal for which they are supposedly going to the airport.”

BER spokesman: “Highly dangerous and high-risk”

To draw attention to the climate catastrophe, members of the “Last Generation” keep blocking roads by sticking themselves to the asphalt. Activists also threw liquids at artworks in several museums.

Merz referred to the action on Thursday, in which several activists had gained access to the capital’s BER airport. A video distributed by the activists themselves shows them snapping through a fence at the airport and entering the grounds. Some of them glued themselves to the ground. The airport temporarily stopped operations on both runways for safety reasons. Airport spokesman Hannes Hönemann called the actions of the climate demonstrators “highly dangerous and high-risk”.

Woidke: Action has exceeded the limit

The capital’s airport BER is located just outside of Berlin in the municipality of Schönefeld in the federal state of Brandenburg. Its Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke considers state consequences to be necessary. “We must not trivialize such incidents,” said the SPD politician to the “Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung”. The rule of law must and will act. He did not initially give any details.

A limit was crossed at the latest with the action at BER Airport. The activists consciously accept the endangerment of people and structures in order to draw attention to themselves. This harms the important concern of climate protection.

CDU boss Merz had already sharply criticized after earlier actions and, among other things, called for an “intensification of the criminal offenses for property damage and coercion”. The action at BER was also sharply criticized by all other parties represented in the Bundestag. Only the Left Party showed understanding. Linke boss Martin Schirdewan told t-online that the actions are controversial, “but they also touch the wound of political inaction in the face of the climate catastrophe”.

Sociologist: “Punishment fantasies are more dangerous”

The sociologist Matthias Quent made a similar statement. For decades, politics and industry have slowed down and prevented climate protection measures – especially in the transport sector, the scientist from the Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences told the dpa news agency. “In view of this, it is also an excuse to accuse the activists of harming climate protection because they put their fingers in the wound. You may like the actions or not, but the responsibility for the climate crisis lies elsewhere,” he said quant.

The form of protest chosen by the “last generation” is “mild compared to other protests,” said the sociologist, referring to riots like the 2017 G20 summit in Hamburg. “Authoritarian counter-reactions and fantasies of punishment are more dangerous for the democratic culture than the brief disruptive actions themselves.”

Activists in Munich released from police custody

In Munich, 19 climate activists who were involved in sticking actions were taken into police custody. You are now free again. “We are constantly required to check the conditions for custody,” said a spokesman for the Munich police headquarters. “As a result, on Friday afternoon we came to the conclusion that the conditions for detention are no longer met, i.e. that further criminal offenses by those in custody are not to be expected, at least for the time being.”

According to the Bavarian Police Tasks Act, citizens can be detained for up to two months on the basis of a judicial decision in order to prevent the commission of an administrative offense of considerable importance for the general public or a criminal offence. The law is controversial.

The climate activists had previously announced that their protests in Berlin and Munich would be suspended until the end of next week. As the group announced on Friday evening, they are hoping for action in the last week of the Bundestag session in the current year. However, the Bundestag will meet not only in the coming week, but also in the week from December 12th to 16th. At the same time, the group warned against restarting the protests with more clout.

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