"Absolutely unacceptable", "potentially dangerous" and "counterproductive" - the activists of the "last generation" have had to take a lot of criticism for the blockade of Berlin Airport BER. The parties agree: Such actions should be prevented in the future with all their might.
The temporary blockade of Berlin-Brandenburg Airport (BER) by climate activists from the "Last Generation" group has been sharply criticized across party lines. Blocking the capital's airport is "another escalation and absolutely unacceptable," wrote Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser on Twitter. "These actions destroy important societal acceptance for the fight against climate change."
Berlin's Interior Senator Iris Spranger sees a further escalation in the latest action by the climate protest group "Last Generation" at the capital's airport. "The blockade of BER was once again a clear statement: the last generation consciously and willingly accepts the danger to third parties," said the SPD politician. The protest group has crossed another line. "I can only warn against continuing on this path of escalation," said Spranger.
The interior senator wants to tackle a transnational approach at the conference of interior ministers next week in Munich. A spokesman for the interior ministry said that coordinated action should prevent climate demonstrators from taking action in advance if possible. Spranger emphasized that her authority would "continue to exhaust all legal means to prevent these dangers and to fight these crimes".
Members of the "Last Generation" protest group paralyzed operations at BER on Thursday afternoon. They managed to snap through a security fence and get onto the airport grounds. According to the police, four people stuck themselves in the area of the runway. Operations on the runways have been stopped in the meantime.
The deputy leader of the Greens in the Bundestag, Konstantin von Notz, criticized the action as "counterproductive, presumptuous and potentially dangerous". In addition, von Notz sees a need to catch up on the security concept of BER. "It will have to be checked carefully," he said on t-online, "how the activists could manage so easily" to get onto the BER runway.
Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing also called on the police to work through the incident in detail. "The police have to investigate this question, which is why it was obviously easy to reach the security area," Wissing told the Welt television station. "It is the police's job to investigate how the activists were able to penetrate the security area so quickly." For the future, the question must be asked what exactly needs to be done to avoid such incidents.
In principle, however, the security regulations at German airports are strict, emphasized the minister. "We have high security standards at the airports. Here, too, action was taken immediately." It is clear that the costs incurred cannot be borne by the general public. "We need acceptance for climate protection, but our state must have zero tolerance for such crimes," said Wissing.
Meanwhile, the Federal Ministry of the Interior emphasized the right to demonstrate. You have to differentiate that in Germany "any kind of protest is of course protected by the constitution and is absolutely legitimate" and of course "free and unhindered" protests can be made for climate protection and any other concern in Germany, said a spokesman in Berlin. The constitutional limit is reached where criminal offenses are committed, and this is where the police intervene.
