The last generation group demands more commitment to climate protection. She draws attention to her concerns with roadblocks in particular.
Since the start of their protests for more climate protection a year ago, the last generation group says it has blocked roads nationwide around 1,250 times. Spokeswoman Carla Rochel of the German Press Agency called the number on request. It is estimated that around 2,000 people took to the streets last year for the last generation. Activists were taken into custody 1,200 times.
The group, which was founded at the end of 2021, blocked motorway access for the first time on January 24 last year. Thereafter, with interruptions, such blockades followed almost daily, as well as protests in museums, stadiums, at oil pipelines and airports. The activists initially called for a “food save law” against food waste. The current demands are 100 km/h on motorways and a permanent 9-euro ticket for public transport.
Sticking for more climate protection
As a rule, the participants in the protest actions tape themselves to surfaces so that the eviction lasts a long time. This means a lot of work for security forces. In Berlin alone, where there are regular blockades, the police booked around 262,700 hours of action for the protests of the last generation by mid-January, as a police spokeswoman for the dpa said. 770 suspects are on record in the capital, and 2,700 criminal charges have been filed.
According to the Berlin public prosecutor’s office, 1,185 cases (as of January 18) have come to her. A large part of it has therefore been connected because the accused are said to have committed several crimes. According to the public prosecutor’s office, more than 450 proceedings have been completed, mostly by penal order – i.e. without a hearing.
“In the case of climate demonstrators who keep attracting attention and who we predict will continue to commit crimes, we will certainly inevitably have to conduct more collective proceedings and conclude them with indictments,” said senior public prosecutor Holger Brocke of the dpa.
Processes in Berlin almost every day
Since the climate activists usually do not accept the penalty order, there are almost daily trials in Berlin. According to the public prosecutor’s office, there are about a dozen final decisions, usually fines for coercion and resistance to law enforcement officials were imposed.
Last generation spokeswoman Rochel spoke of around 2,000 criminal proceedings nationwide by the beginning of November, but was referring to media reports. No more recent figures are available. Many court cases have only just begun.
The Berlin chief public prosecutor Brocke assumes that the last generation will not dissolve so quickly or stop their activities “also in view of their high degree of organization”. “Against this background, the question of a possible radicalization arises in the medium term,” said Brocke. The authority currently sees no evidence of this, since the actions have so far been non-violent.
For this reason, the public prosecutor’s office currently sees no reason to classify the last generation as a criminal organization. The threshold for this has not yet been reached. “These must be serious crimes that the population sees as frightening or worrying and not just outrageous or annoying,” emphasized Brocke. From a statistical point of view, however, non-violent blockades have been the most significant offences.
Source: Stern
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