After the climate protest at BER: activists free again – Scholz criticizes the action

Status: 11/25/2022 5:27 p.m

With the exception of one, all participants in the blockade of BER Airport are free again. Both Chancellor Scholz and ministers criticize the action.

Five of the activists arrested during the temporary blockade of Berlin-Brandenburg Airport (BER) and one activist from the group “Last Generation” have been released. A suspect remains in custody by court order for the time being. This was announced by the Brandenburg Police Headquarters in Potsdam.

All persons involved are being investigated on suspicion of dangerous intervention in air traffic, disruption of public services, property damage and trespassing. The Brandenburg State Criminal Police Office has therefore taken over the investigations in the case, according to police spokesman Mario Heinemann.

Chancellor considers action to be inappropriate

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) criticized the blockade by the group. “I want to say clearly that I think this action is a mistake,” said Scholz in an interview with “Focus”. The Chancellor does not answer whether he would have taken part in such a protest when he was young, “because it is inappropriate to judge the perspective of a 17-year-old from my perspective as a 60-year-old.”

Wissing urges clarification

The Federal Ministry of the Interior has now again emphasized that any kind of protest “is of course constitutionally protected and absolutely legitimate”. According to a ministry spokesman, every concern in Germany can be protested “freely and unhindered”. The protection of the constitution ends where crimes are committed.

According to the federal police, the members of the group had cut through a fence and thus gained access to the operational area of ​​BER. Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing urges clarification. “It is the task of the police to investigate how the activists were able to penetrate the security area so quickly,” said the FDP minister on the “Welt” broadcaster. But action was taken immediately. From the time the fence was cut open to the arrival of the first patrol car at the activists’ premises, it took a little over 15 minutes, according to the action group’s live stream.

Much criticism after airport blockade by climate activists of the “last generation”

Jörg Poppendieck, RBB, daily news at 4:05 p.m., November 25th, 2022

Cross-national approach required

Berlin’s Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) calls the blockade a “further escalation”. “The blockade of BER was a clear statement: the last generation consciously and willingly accepts the danger to third parties”. You can only warn against continuing down this path. During their action, the activists blocked some of the taxiways on which aircraft travel at low speeds between the runway and the terminal.

Airport spokesman Jan-Peter Haack said that people were never endangered because the climate demonstrators did not enter the runway and demonstrated far away from the terminal.

Berlin’s interior senator now wants to encourage a transnational approach. At the conference of interior ministers next week, a strategy could be agreed on how to “exploit all legal means in the fight against these crimes”. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) also sharply criticized the action. “These actions destroy important social acceptance for the fight against climate change,” she wrote on Twitter.

Parties criticized action

Meanwhile, criticism came from almost all parties. The deputy leader of the Greens in the Bundestag, Konstantin von Notz, criticized the action as “counterproductive, presumptuous and potentially dangerous”. Union parliamentary group Vice President Andrea Lindholz (CSU) sees “another red line” crossed with the impairment of air traffic at BER. AfD party and faction leader Tino Chrupalla called on the Office for the Protection of the Constitution to become active in the case of the “last generation”. The co-chairman of the left, Martin Schirdewan, sees the actions as a reaction to the failure of “political inaction in the face of the climate catastrophe”.

Special representative shows understanding – airport association does not

The German special representative for international climate policy, Jennifer Morgan, showed basic understanding for the frustration of the protesters, but at the same time warned that the protests were proportionate. “We need the commitment of young people and civil society. But every commitment to climate protection must remain within the framework of the laws of our democracy,” she told the newspapers of the Funke media group.

A spokeswoman for the airport association ADV said there was no understanding of the protest actions. “It is unacceptable if air traffic safety is jeopardized.”

Air traffic suspended for 90 minutes

According to the federal police, two groups had gained access to the BER airport site on Thursday afternoon. Some people glued themselves to the ground. The “Last Generation” announced that some activists rode bicycles across the site. The action was streamed live on Twitter.

The airport alarm was raised and air traffic was suspended until further notice for security reasons. Operations resumed after 90 minutes. In the meantime, 15 incoming flights had to be diverted – to Leipzig, Dresden and Düsseldorf. Five flights could not take off from BER, other aircraft were circling in the air. Delays continued hours after the incident. According to the airport, around 3,000 to 4,000 passengers were affected.

A lot of criticism of climate activists after the airport action

Mario Kubina, ARD Berlin, 25.11.2022 06:19 a.m

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