On Tuesday afternoon, climate activists demonstrated in front of the office building of the financial investor Blackrock on Lenbachplatz against its involvement in the promotion of fossil fuels. In front of the front door they spilled coal and a petroleum-like substance that later turned out to be molasses, a dark brown viscous sugar syrup. They also stuck posters to the windows to explain. In chants, the demonstrators repeatedly called for “climate justice”, and on one banner they also called for debt relief for the Global South. A number of countries in the southern hemisphere are indebted to Blackrock. The US-based investment company is considered the world’s largest asset manager; in Munich it has set up one of its two German sales offices.
14 representatives each of the groups “Scientist Rebellion” and “Debt for Climate” were involved in the protest. Twelve people managed to tape themselves inside the building in front of the Blackrock offices; four others were involved in a performance that was streamed live on the Internet and was intended to draw attention to the deadly consequences of oil extraction. The twelve people stuck in front of the offices and two other demonstrators who had glued themselves to the outside of the building were released by police specialists by the early afternoon. During an action by Scientist Rebellion last week in a Porsche pavilion in Wolfsburg, the host VW had the demonstrators stuck for two nights, a total of almost 42 hours.
Scientist Rebellion is an offshoot of the environmental movement Extinction Rebellion; Last year, more than 200 scientists, academics and students from 22 countries came together to form this new group. In the meantime, “well over a thousand are actively involved,” as a spokesman said. After all the information, warnings and appeals from science on climate change have so far had little fruit, they now consider civil disobedience to be necessary: ”In view of the planetary emergency, traditional science communication and political advice are no longer sufficient,” says a media release.
After a week of actions in the federal capital Berlin and the car metropolis Wolfsburg, the scientists have now moved their protest to Munich. Until November 4th, they want to draw attention to their concerns with disturbance actions “in different places”. After the opening campaign on Tuesday, Blackrock reported 16 people for trespassing; the police are also investigating property damage and an unannounced gathering.