At the end there is a verdict, and it includes a remarkable plea. Both come from a magistrate who has just punished a squatting. The plea is an accusation against a policy that is doing too little against climate collapse and against an auto industry that is helping to cause this catastrophe. Indirectly, the judge is encouraging the five young people he just found guilty to stay active, for the climate and for journalism.
The five accused are convicted of trespassing. During the IAA auto show, four climate activists occupied an empty building; a journalist was also there and reported on the action on the spot. The scene of the crime was the office building at Karlstrasse 20, which belongs to the Free State of Bavaria and has been empty for years. The court stays with the punishment in the lowest range: The journalist as well as two women and one man are only warned; if they remain unpunished for a year, they avoid the fine of 30 daily rates. Another activist is sentenced to 40 daily rates because he has a relevant criminal record. The judgment is not yet final.
The squatters hung banners from the building on Karlstrasse and lit smoke pots.
(Photo: Peter Kneffel/dpa)
What happened is undisputed: on the night of September 10, the four activists, aged between 22 and 31, broke into the unused building. When one of the anti-IAA demonstrations swept through Karlsstrasse the following afternoon, they hung banners out of the windows and lit censers. They declared the house to be a self-governing cultural center.
An activist on behalf of the quartet explained in court that this was legitimate in view of the climate crisis. “The fact that the city of Munich allows a huge event of the international car industry to take over the entire city center at such times is pure mockery and a slap in the face” for the people who are committed to a future worth living. The protest, which is also directed against vacant properties, was fueled by anger, but “also by our conscience”: They wanted to oppose the “ecological and social devastation” that emanated from the richest regions of the world.
After the action, the Free State filed a criminal complaint; the public prosecutor’s office obtained five penal orders for trespassing. Because the accused lodged an objection, it is up to District Judge Thomas Müller to assess the action from a legal point of view. The freelance journalist, 27, who worked for the daily newspaper during his IAA taz reported from Munich, invokes the fundamental right of freedom of the press. He got a tip that night, found out about the campaign in front of the house and had to decide within a few minutes: stay outside or go in to report on the spot? The activists refer to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression, which in this case is to be given greater weight than domestic rights; especially since there was no damage to property and nobody was disturbed.
Judge Müller does not follow these arguments. No one can claim to be allowed to commit a criminal offense by invoking a fundamental right. The reporter could also have reported from the street. Although one is moving in the area of ”minor crime,” says Müller, but he still has to pronounce the accused guilty – “unfortunately”. He stays at the bottom of the sentence because he almost only sees things that are exculpatory. For example, everyone had behaved cooperatively during the evacuation by the police.
Thomas Müller follows this with a comprehensive explanation, almost a statement. Freedom of the press is “of exceptional importance”. He recalls the conditions in Russia, where free reporting is no longer possible, but also the media control in the USA under Trump and currently in Poland and Hungary. Nevertheless, even a journalist should not commit trespassing. He can understand very well the motives of the three men and one woman who protested abuses with the occupation, says Müller. It is necessary for young people to make a fuss. Even he gets angry when he experiences haggling during international climate conferences and how nothing comes out in the end – “I get the bird there”. And he also shares the anger at the auto industry, says Müller. Because they operate according to the motto: “What do I care about climate change, the main thing is that the sales are right.”