With their street blockades, the climate activists of the last generation attract a lot of attention - and often draw the ire of citizens and politicians. A Munich judge now wants to take tougher action and orders custody over the holidays - without a trial.
After renewed climate protests by the Last Generation group, a judge in Munich ordered two activists to be held in custody for a month beyond Christmas and New Year. The judge went beyond the requested five-day detention period and ordered the two to be held by the judiciary for a month until January 5 without trial, the Munich police said.
The reason for the long detention is that a "persistent repetition" of blockade actions was found in both cases. The one-month detention without trial is possible under the Bavarian Police Tasks Act, in other federal states there is no such severe sanction. A month-long detention was ordered for several Last Generation activists back in November.
The activists now affected were involved in a blockade action in the Munich motorway area on St. Nicholas Day. A judge ordered two blockers to be detained for five days and two others for a month. The last generation had announced further and increased disruptive actions starting this week. Since Monday there have been various blockades both in the inner city area of Munich and on the freeways in the city area.
In the past few weeks, activists have blocked roads, damaged works of art and paralyzed air traffic at BER Airport in Berlin. In Bavaria, some were jailed as a precautionary measure because they had announced further disturbances. Among other things, the group is demanding a speed limit of 100 kilometers per hour on motorways and a 9-euro train ticket for the whole of Germany.
Internationally, too, the campaigns are not letting up. Activists daubed paint on the entrance to the famous La Scala in Milan shortly before a premiere performance. The blue and pink smeared pillars at the entrance to the theater could be seen in photos. Two activists held up placards reading "No gas and no coal".
So far, politicians have disagreed on how to deal with the actions of climate activists. SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert sees climate activists as being too rigorous and has condemned this. "What fundamentally bothers me is the absolutism with which the climate activists proceed - according to the motto: What are democratic rules of the game against what we stand up for and what we want to defend?" said Kühnert in an interview with "Zeit". . The head of the CSU deputy in the Bundestag, Alexander Dobrindt, had warned of the emergence of a "climate RAF".
The activists seem to get sympathy from Gregor Gysi. A climate protection demonstrator and alleged road blocker was represented at his trial before the district court in Tiergarten by the well-known left-wing politician as a defender.
