From Thursday on, the “Last Generation” in Munich wants to protest again for a more effective climate policy. The city is to become “a protest stronghold for weeks,” announces one of the activists. The group has been blocking roads elsewhere in Bavaria for days. To do this, the group blocks roads as usual. Where activists have stuck in Munich in the past few months and how the police reacted – a chronology:
Friday, February 4, 2022: Five activists, who came from all over Bavaria, glued themselves to the street at the Isartor. With the action, the group “Last Generation” wants to protest against the waste of food. It takes hours for traffic to flow again – some drivers react angrily.
Sunday 28 August 2022: Two activists from the “Last Generation” stick themselves to the painting “The Massacre of the Innocents” by Paul Rubens from the 17th century in the Alte Pinakothek, one is filming it.
Tuesday, October 25, 2022: A week of action begins under the leadership of the “Scientist Rebellion”, a group of scientists from several countries. Around two dozen people are demonstrating on Lenbachplatz in front of the offices of the global financial investor Blackrock, 14 are sticking themselves in and on the building. They are temporarily arrested and released after their identity has been established.
Wednesday, October 26, 2022: Around noon, activists block Brienner Strasse at Odeonsplatz; most glued themselves to the asphalt with one hand. The police took away 18 people and held them overnight.
Friday, October 28, 2022: Shortly before noon, a dozen activists stop traffic in front of the Palace of Justice by standing or sitting on the street at the corner of Karlsplatz and Prielmayerstrasse. The Jesuit priest Jörg Alt joins in in solidarity; he and another man stick themselves.
Saturday, October 29, 2022: At around 11:00 a.m., activists in the BMW world sounded the alarm: 14 people stuck one hand to a sports car, and one filmed the action. The police arrest everyone and apply for custody, which is also ordered after a judicial review: Two scientists remain in custody until November 1st and 2nd, respectively, the others until November 4th, i.e. one week.
Thursday, November 3, 2022: The “Last Generation” continues the climate protests in Munich. At 10:30 a.m., 17 activists taped themselves onto the street at Stachus and blocked traffic in both directions. At around 6.45 p.m. there was another blockade at the same place, this time 15 people were involved. Because they took part in the morning and are announcing further traffic disruptions, the police applied to the district court for custody again. This is ordered for twelve people for 30 days until December 2nd, the longest possible duration according to the amended Bavarian Police Tasks Act. Two activists must be released on November 4th, one on November 9th.
Monday, November 7, 2022: At 9.30 a.m. the Stachus is blocked again, this time by five people; three got stuck. Here, too, a judge orders the requested custody, in three cases until November 14.
Wednesday, November 16, 2022: It became known that one of the men who had been taken into custody in Stadelheim prison until December 2 was on a hunger strike.
Monday, November 21, 2022: The Luitpold Bridge is blocked twice, first at eight o’clock by nine people. Police are holding two in custody, one until November 24 and the other until November 29. Six of those released repeat the action at 3 p.m. They too remain in custody, three until December 2nd.
Monday, December 5, 2022: The climate activists have announced their protest for the first time: in the morning at 8 a.m. they want to stick themselves to the Stachus on the street. That’s why. But they also carry out other unannounced activities that day: they climb gantries on the A9 and A96, and a woman even wants to stick herself to the road on the A96. Traffic is stopped on the A9. In the evening they block the street at Karlstor again.
Tuesday, December 6, 2022: In a total of four places, climate activists are blocking commuter traffic – again on the motorways. At the end of the Lindau Autobahn, vehicles are backed up five kilometers back to Gräfelfing. Four climate activists have to be in police custody, two of them until Epiphany.
Thursday, December 8, 2022: The climate protests reach Munich Airport: activists stick themselves to the airport grounds in the morning. The northern of the two runways will be temporarily closed.
Friday, December 9, 2022: The city of Munich is tightening its action against the climate activists: In a general decree, it bans climate protests until January 8, 2023 “in the form of road blockades in which participants connect firmly to the roadway or in another way”.
Wednesday December 14, 2022: At the southern end of the Englischer Garten, at the intersection of Von-der-Tann-Strasse and Königstrasse, a man and a woman pour a viscous mass on each other and are arrested. According to the police, they are unable to stick themselves because of the wet and cold weather. According to the “Last Generation”, they didn’t want to get stuck, but to protest against the general decree with their action.
Tuesday, December 20, 2022: An activist and two activists are stuck on Munich’s Sonnenstrasse. Four other people are prevented by the police from similar attempts, with another three people, according to the police, glue bottles are found. The action had been announced beforehand, and the police presence was correspondingly large.
Wednesday, December 21, 2022: Seven people stick themselves to the roadway in Berg am Laim at the Ampfingstraße/Berg-am-Laim-Straße intersection – two stick to each other. It takes the police about an hour and a half to get everyone off the street again.
Monday, February 6, 2023: It is the first action of the “last generation” in the new year. Around twelve o’clock three men stick themselves to the asphalt at the Viktualienmarkt and block Frauenstrasse. After about an hour, the police ended the action.
Wednesday, February 15, 2023: After more than a week in preventive detention in Bavaria, the Passau climate activist Micha Frey has been released from the Stadelheim prison. The circumstances of his detention remain questionable even after his release. The “Last Generation” alleges that the activist had to go to prison for “political reasons”. SZ information shows that the police expressly referred to the political Ash Wednesday when applying for preventive custody at the Passau district court. CSU boss Markus Söder, among others, gives an election campaign speech in the Passau Dreiländerhalle.
Wednesday, March 8, 2023: Five activists try to stick themselves on Ludwigstrasse in front of the university. But the action fails, according to eyewitnesses, because of the wet street – and because of plainclothes police officers who had been warned: The officers pull the protesters off the street before they can get stuck.
Tuesday, March 14, 2023: Four men and two women block the exit from the Mittlerer Ring from the Brudermühlstraße to the Plinganserstraße in Mittersendling. All four lanes are affected. Long tailbacks affect the entire Mittlerer Ring.
Tuesday, April 25, 2023: The district court is negotiating various sticking actions at Stachus and an action in October last year at the Blackrock investment company on Lenbachplatz. In protest against climate-damaging investments, activists smeared the entrance with sugar beet molasses and taped themselves.
Monday, May 22, 2023: After a sticking action in the Alte Pinakothek in August 2022, the district court in Munich sentenced three activists from the last generation to fines. The court charged the men with criminal damage to property.
Wednesday, May 24, 2023: The authorities in seven federal states are taking action against the climate activists of the “last generation”. Under the leadership of the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office, the police and public prosecutor’s office are searching 15 objects in Munich, among other places. The accusation: the formation and support of a criminal organization. Investigations are initiated against seven suspects, there are no arrests. However, the investigators are freezing assets, confiscating accounts and shutting down the climate group’s website.
Thursday, May 25, 2023: Around 600 people demonstrate on Marienplatz for the “Last Generation”. Many young, but also older people express their solidarity with the climate protectionists, who are accused by the Bavarian security authorities of being a criminal organization. Flags and symbols of different groups can be seen, in addition to those of the “Last Generation” also those of “Extinction Rebellion” or the “Parents for Future”.
Monday, June 12, 2023: Four men and two women between the ages of 20 and 73 are blocking traffic on Stiglmaierplatz on Dachauer Strasse in the direction of the Paul-Heyse underpass. Four of them stick to the ground and each other, causing serious traffic problems. The police later announced that the road blockade delayed the arrival of an ambulance by around ten minutes. A patient suspected of having a heart attack had to wait longer for help.
Wednesday, June 14, 2023: The Bavarian Constitutional Court dismisses another lawsuit against the Bavarian Police Responsibilities Act. The controversial measures, especially the possibility of preventive detention ordered by a judge, have come into focus because of their use against climate activists.
Friday, June 23, 2023: In its investigations into the “Last Generation” climate protest group, the Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office had numerous conversations with journalists tapped for months. A landline with the Berlin area code, which the “Last Generation” advertised as their official press phone, was monitored. This is initially evident from internal documents that the Süddeutsche Zeitung present. A little later, the Attorney General confirmed the suspicion. Because of the suspicion of the formation of a “criminal association”, the Munich district court issued resolutions against members of the group, including the surveillance of telecommunications.
Tuesday, June 27, 2023: Two men and a woman block Ludwigstrasse in front of the university. After an hour and a half the road is free again.
Thursday, June 29, 2023: Activists stick wanted posters of themselves on the building of the general public prosecutor’s office in Munich. With the satirical action, they make fun of the investigators’ wiretapping measures.
Friday, July 14, 2023: Also on their nationwide day of action, the activists accuse the government of insufficient climate protection. According to the “Last Generation” at least 36 sit-ins are planned in 26 cities. According to the police, two women and four men stuck to the streets in rush-hour traffic in downtown Munich. Two other people sit unfixed next to it, ten people accompany the action with chants. An activist at the Stachus has to be released with the help of the professional fire brigade because his fixative is a special adhesive cement mixture.