Restart with more power
‘Last Generation’ interrupts protests
11/25/2022, 8:10 p.m
The actions of the “Last Generation” are currently making waves. Now the climate activists want to give politics and society a breather. But their protest is far from over, they say.
According to their own statements, the climate activists of the group “Last Generation” will not be taking part in any more protest actions in Berlin and Munich until the end of next week. As the group announced, they are hoping for action in the last week of the Bundestag session in the current year. However, the Bundestag will not only meet in the coming week, but also in the week from December 12th to 16th.
At the same time, the group warned against restarting the protests with more clout. The time will be used to “properly train and involve the many people who are currently joining the movement in order to come back with even more people”. The federal government can still act in the fight against climate change. “It’s not a question of ability, but of will, and we can only sincerely hope that she still lives up to her responsibility,” the statement said.
The climate activists of the “last generation” had recently come under heavy criticism after some of them paralyzed flight operations at the capital’s BER airport. The activists climbed through the security fence and went onto the airport grounds. Numerous politicians called for consequences, including the expansion of preventive custody in the Federal Police Act. “I think we all – society and politics – could use a breather to calm the heated spirits a little,” spokeswoman Aimée van Baalen was quoted as saying.
Escalation, “more and more unscrupulous” actions, “completely unacceptable” – the condemnation of the activists can hardly be formulated more drastically by some politicians. “I don’t see radicalization, especially in comparison to other protests such as the anti-nuclear movement or the peace movement in the 1970s,” said sociologist Lena Herbers from the University of Freiburg. She described the protests as “manageable violations of the law, deliberate, isolated violations of the law”. The group moves within a democratic framework, basically accepting the system and ultimately also the penalties against them.