Solidarity campaign for 15 members of the “Scientist Rebellion” activist group on Marienplatz: On Monday afternoon, around 30 Munich residents held a vigil to protest that the climate activists had been taken into police custody in the BMW World on Saturday. 13 of them will remain in custody until next Friday, two will be released this Tuesday and Wednesday. Another scientist who was taken into custody after a blockade at Odeonsplatz last Wednesday will also be released on All Saints’ Day.
The Bavarian Police Responsibilities Act allows people who have committed administrative offenses to be detained for up to a month if there is a risk of recurrence – although this requires a judicial decision. In the case of the 15 Munich activists, the judges have limited their custody to no later than Friday “to prevent further actions that have already been announced,” according to a police spokesman.
“We want to point out that scientists are behind bars here in Munich because they point to the climate catastrophe,” said computer scientist Simon Wimmer, 29, at the vigil in front of the town hall. The danger is more than real, he said in his speech, which he gave in English and German: “After all, we no longer have a chance of meeting the 1.5-degree target. The UN announced that just this week. ” At the latest, a new era has arrived: “We want the German government to finally start taking sensible measures.”
The renunciation of coal and fossil fuels is existentially important, as a first step you have to take measures that met with broad approval among the population, such as a speed limit on motorways or the permanent introduction of the nine-euro ticket and the expansion of local public transport . Furthermore, the Global South must also be empowered to take climate protection measures. The 15 activists, 13 of them scientists working at international universities, pointed out “with peaceful, non-violent methods”.
13 of the 15 members of the activist group “Scientist Rebellion” will remain in custody until next Friday, two will be released this Tuesday and Wednesday.
(Photo: Stephan Rumpf/Stephan Rumpf)
The activists of “Scientist Rebellion” from France, Spain, Italy and other countries had smeared six cars in BMW World on Saturday and stuck themselves to a racing car. According to the group, this was the fifth action in Munich within a week. BMW estimates the damage to the cars at tens of thousands of euros and reported the perpetrators for property damage and trespassing.
Because the fire alarm had also been abusively triggered during the campaign, all visitors had to leave BMW World on Saturday. The activists justified their actions by saying that BMW, like VW and other major car manufacturers, were only “greenwashing” and still violating the climate targets.