“Last Generation”
Climate protest on the runway – flight operations at BER resumed after a temporary suspension
Plane approaching the Berlin Capital Airport BER. He was temporarily banned on Thursday (stock image).
© Rainer Keuenhof / Picture Alliance
Air traffic at Berlin Airport has meanwhile been stopped. Climate activists had gained access to the BER site.
Flight operations at the capital’s BER airport were temporarily suspended on Thursday afternoon, but resumed a good hour later. The reason was a protest action for more climate protection by supporters of the group “Last Generation” on the airport premises.
“While some of them are glued to the asphalt, others ride bicycles across the maneuvering area, bringing air traffic to a standstill,” said the “Last Generation” with. Shortly before, the police had been informed about the action via an emergency call.
Several people on the BER site
A spokesman for the federal police confirmed this starthat “several people, apparently climate activists, gained unauthorized access to non-public areas of the airport”. In cooperation with the Brandenburg police, the federal police are trying to clarify the situation, the spokesman continued.
A representative of the capital airport said that starthat protesters glued themselves to a so-called taxiway, a kind of access road for airplanes. He assumed a total of around six people who are said to have gained access to the site at two points in the airport.
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Initially, it was expected that flight operations could continue because only the northern of the two runways was affected. “That would have been manageable,” said the airport spokesman. It later turned out that there were also people in the vicinity of the southern runway, so that air traffic at BER was temporarily stopped completely for safety reasons.
“Last Generation” streamed action live
Participants in the protests briefly streamed the action live on the internet. The pictures showed how a vehicle with blue lights approached the people on the taxiway. Shortly thereafter, the transmission broke off.
According to the flight schedule, several planes taking off and landing were affected by the closure. According to the spokesman, machines on the approach were diverted to other airports.
The real-time position service “Flightradar24” showed several machines turning away from the capital. At around 6:30 p.m., BER could be flown to again. It was not immediately known whether there had been any arrests.
Editor’s note: This article was updated after resumption of flight operations.
Sources: Flightradar24, Airport BER, “Last Generation”Federal Police, DPA news agency