Munich (dpa / lby) - Bavaria's SPD leader Florian von Brunn has described the designation of climate activists as "Climate RAF" as inappropriate. It is true that protest movements that deal with such important issues as climate change could become radicalized, von Brunn told the Munich "Abendzeitung" (Wednesday edition). But: "At the moment it's more scaremongering for me."
CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt had demanded at the weekend that the emergence of a "climate RAF" must be prevented. Despite criticism, Dobrindt still stuck to this comparison on Tuesday.
Dobrindt used the expression to refer to the Red Army Faction (RAF), which for decades was the epitome of terror and murder in the Federal Republic. More than 30 people fell victim to left-wing terrorists between the 1970s and the early 1990s.
"I also find it annoying when you damage paintings or stop traffic," said von Brunn, referring to the actions of climate activists. "But I would be happy if the ladies and gentlemen of the Union would participate in climate protection debates with the same intensity that they are now talking about tougher penalties."
In Munich, several climate stickers are currently in preventive detention for 30 days, which the head of the state chancellery, Florian Herrmann (CSU), had defended as an expression of a well-fortified democracy. Von Brunn, on the other hand, described this approach as too harsh. "Democracy and the rule of law must be able to live with such protests. Of course, you have to expect sanctions if you break the law. But that should be decided in court," he emphasized, referring to the controversial possibilities of the Bavarian Police Tasks Act.
In the state capital, as in other cities in Germany, there have been repeated road blockades by climate protection activists in the recent past, most of whom had glued their hands to the roadway.
