Extremism: last-generation raid: researcher warns of radicalization

The extremism researcher Matthias Quent sees the danger that the investigators’ actions against the climate protection group Last Generation could lead to radicalization. The example that should be set could “have deterrent effects that backfire,” Quent told the German Press Agency.

These could lead to people who are committed to climate protection not being supported by the state, but feeling abandoned. “This can lead to individuals becoming radicalized,” Quent said.

Investigations against climate protection group

Police and public prosecutors took action against the climate protection group yesterday with a nationwide raid. Around 170 officers searched 15 apartments and business premises in seven federal states, as announced by the Munich public prosecutor and the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office. The charge is to form or support a criminal organization.

It is determined against seven suspects who are between 22 and 38 years old. Initially, there were no arrests. The activists vehemently denied being criminals. Hundreds of people demonstrated in Berlin on Wednesday evening in solidarity with the group. A protest march is planned for today in Munich.

According to the public prosecutor’s office, the investigations and searches are based on numerous criminal charges. The group regularly draws attention to the consequences of global warming with sit-ins and campaigns in museums. The members often stick to it – on streets or on works of art.

Quent: Activists’ means is provocation

Researcher Quent emphasized that he has not yet seen any evidence of radicalization among the last generation. “On the contrary: I find it remarkable how calm they remain, even when they are attacked.”

The activists stoically did what they would have done all along. “In terms of radicalization towards more extreme means or violence or the rejection of democracy – what we describe as extremism – I don’t really see any indicators,” said Quent.

The strategy of this group is not to cause damage through violence, but it is always about the public effect. The means of the activists is not damage, but provocation and irritation. Quent also pointed out that there was no discernible increase in actions.

So far, the last generation has always been characterized by the fact that the activists showed their face, that they made reformist demands and not revolutionary ones. But there is a danger “that such things will tip over because some people lose the last bit of trust that may still exist in democracy and the rule of law,” said Quent. This has been found time and again in research on social movements in recent decades.

Doubts about classification as a criminal organization

Berlin’s new Senator for Justice, Felor Badenberg, called the group’s actions “strange”. “Who is responsible if someone comes to the hospital too late?” said the former Vice President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution of the dpa.

She continued to criticize: “There are people who cannot pick up their children from the daycare center on time, cannot get to their parents who need care, and business people who cannot keep appointments, miss flights and have financial losses.”

Of course it’s good that young people are interested in politics, take to the streets and demonstrate. “What irritates me about the Last Generation is the form of protest they choose. I find it stressful that the activists use violence – in the legal sense – to coerce other people every day.”

In the ARD “Tagesthemen”, however, Badenberg said that the group could not be classified as a criminal organization as a whole, “but it’s always about the specific individual case, which the courts then have to evaluate”.

Gysi calls for closer exchange with activists

The SPD interior expert Sebastian Hartmann told the editorial network Germany that the public prosecutor’s office in a democratic constitutional state only acted when there was initial suspicion and the preliminary investigations were completed. “If one decides to take such a step, there seems to be a change in strategy from the last generation.” The rule of law must draw a dividing line between legitimate protest and agreeing to commit crimes. In the end, courts would have to decide.

The left-wing politician Gregor Gysi again called for a closer exchange with the activists. He told the “Tagesspiegel”: “The escalation by the judiciary is the wrong way.” Many actions go too far for him. But: “If politics and the judiciary escalate, the young people will escalate too. Where should the development go?” At the end of November in Berlin, Gysi acted as a lawyer in court to defend an activist who had glued himself to the asphalt during road blockades in Berlin.