“Last generation” has to pay hundreds of euros for police operations

“Last Generation”
Climate demonstrators have to pay for police operations – it gets most expensive in Hamburg

More and more federal states are charging the climate activists of the “last generation” for the police operations they caused. In Hamburg, the average cost per case is 500 euros.

In major German cities, protest actions by members of the “last generation” are now almost part of everyday life: the climate demonstrators regularly cling to public events, squares or streets. They want to call on politicians and society to do more to protect the climate.

The use of the “last generation” and, above all, the choice of their methods is the subject of controversial public debate: some consider the protest to be uncomfortable but necessary, while others have no understanding of it. What is clear, however, is that the state regularly incurs costs to break up the protests. Costs that more and more federal states do not want to be left with – they charge the climate stickers for the police operations.

Hamburg: 500 euros per activist: in the “last generation”

According to a survey conducted by “Welt am Sonntag” among the interior ministries of the 16 federal states, Hamburg is making particularly high demands. In the Hanseatic city, 74 activists have so far been asked to pay, the total costs are more than 37,000 euros – i.e. around 500 euros per mission. How this sum is made up can be guessed at by looking at the “Fee schedule for measures in the field of public safety and order”: It is specified there, for example, that every time a police officer is deployed, 33.20 euros are due for every half hour or part thereof .

Only recently, members of Hamburg’s “Last Generation” had blocked the Elbe bridges heading into the city by sticking themselves to the asphalt – on a weekend when the A7, the only other route into the city from the south, was closed. Traffic chaos ensued, thousands of drivers were stuck in traffic jams. Police specialists had to detach the demonstrators from the roadway.

Federal states make climate stickers pay

In other countries, too, the protest group has to pay for the personnel and material costs of the police. According to “Welt am Sonntag”, the police in Berlin charged 241 euros in 194 cases – which corresponds to a total of more than 47,000 euros. Munich, Baden-Württemberg, Saxony-Anhalt, Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate also let the activists pay. Other federal states are still doing without it or have no means of doing so due to a lack of a legal basis. However, it is to be expected that more and more countries will crack down more and more – because the “last generation” has so far shown no signs of letting up in their protests.

Sources: “World on Sunday” / Hamburg scale of fees for measures in the field of public safety and order