Berlin
Climate activists spray paint on the Brandenburg Gate
Members of the climate protection group Last Generation sprayed the Brandenburg Gate with orange paint. photo
© Paul Zinken/dpa
The climate protection group Last Generation has announced new road blockades in Berlin. The police want to intervene quickly. Their work was required at a Berlin landmark at the weekend.
Members of the climate protection group Last Generation have the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin sprayed with orange paint. All six pillars were affected. Around 40 emergency services were on site, a police spokesman said on Sunday morning. There were 14 arrests. According to the spokesman, the investigation is underway for damage to property that is harmful to the community.
According to the Berlin situation center, six activists were still in custody on Sunday evening. The police temporarily cordoned off the area around the Berlin landmark, and according to a reporter from the German Press Agency, numerous passers-by reacted negatively to the action. Cleaning of the gate began on Sunday afternoon.
Politicians criticized the action. The landmark is a symbol of Berlin as a city of freedom, said Berlin’s Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU). “With these actions, this group is not only damaging the historic Brandenburg Gate, but also our free discourse about the important issues of our time and future.”
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) told the newspapers of the Funke media group: “Smearing the Brandenburg Gate as a symbol of freedom and a landmark of our country is another senseless and reprehensible action that must be punished consistently under criminal law.” The last generation achieves nothing at all with their crimes and acts of chaos. “On the contrary: such actions massively damage the social support that climate protection needs.”
Road blockades planned
The Last Generation said the protest was “part of the so-called turning point”. To initiate this, hundreds of people have come to Berlin since last Wednesday. The group has announced new weeks of action, and from this Monday there will be road blockades in the capital again. The police want to react quickly and observe well-known intersections and motorway exits at an early stage.
Last Generation said prepared fire extinguishers were used during the color campaign on Sunday. According to the police, climate activists also wanted to climb the Brandenburg Gate. A patrol noticed the lifting platform on the west side and prevented this. In addition to road blockades, color attacks are a regular part of climate activists’ actions. The group demands that Germany stop using fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas from 2030. The federal government is aiming for a climate-neutral economy by 2045.
Last generation behind most actions
In Berlin, members of the Last Generation defaced the Basic Law monument, among other things. The party headquarters of the SPD, Greens and FDP were also the target of actions, as were luxury shops on Kurfürstendamm and a private plane at the capital’s BER airport. At the Berlin public prosecutor’s office, the protest by climate activists has now led to 2,860 cases (as of September 15), as the authority announced in response to a dpa request. The majority of cases involve actions of the last generation (2458).