Climate activists of the “Last Generation” have invaded the grounds of Berlin Brandenburg Airport “Willy Brandt” (BER). Air traffic had to be temporarily suspended. This was announced by a spokesman for the airport.
Both runways were temporarily closed. All air traffic to and from the federal capital was suspended early Thursday evening.
Between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m., two groups of climate activists, believed to be of the “last generation”, entered the cordoned-off area of the airport at two different points. As a result, it was no longer possible to carry out safe flight operations, the airport spokesman said.
The activists streamed their action live on Twitter. There you could see them snapping through a fence shortly after 4:00 p.m. and entering the airport area. They then held banners up to the camera and explained their motives.
Activists were also seen gluing themselves to the ground. About ten minutes after the start of the action, blue lights could be seen in the live stream, and a little later police officers could also be heard. The federal police confirmed that several people had been on the airport site.
According to the airport spokesman, incoming flights were diverted to neighboring airports, such as Leipzig and Hanover. In the case of outgoing connections, the effects were initially unknown. Several machines have headed for other airports, and others were in waiting patterns, as can be seen on the Flightradar24 flight observation site. There was initially no information on the number of flights affected.
Since the beginning of this year, members of the “Last Generation” initiative have repeatedly blocked roads and freeway accesses by sticking themselves to the asphalt to draw attention to the climate catastrophe. Recently, activists threw liquids at works of art in several museums.