A police crackdown has put a halt to Berlin’s climate protestors, with no street blockades in the German capital since nationwide raids last month targeted the Letzte Generation (Last Generation) organization.
Since late April, the group has blockaded major streets in Berlin, employing methods similar to those used by Just Stop Oil in the United Kingdom, and has threatened to continue until the government meets their demands.
Data released with The Telegraph by Berlin police revealed that cops had to cope with more than 50 distinct blockades in the week leading up to the searches. Officers were called to 17 cases on May 19 alone in which protestors either cemented themselves to the tarmac or tied their arms to car wheels.
Activists recorded the reactions of angry drivers, some of whom attempted to drag them off the street and shared the clip on social media.
However, no illegal blockage has occurred on the streets of the city since May 24, when authorities raided 15 residences around the country and blocked the group’s bank account.
“What we’ve seen is ‘slow walks,’ legally registered protests in which demonstrators cross the street slowly,” a police official said, cautioning that it was “too early” to judge whether the blockades had vanished for good.
Prosecutors in Munich ordered the raids because they believe Letzte Generation is a criminal organization.
Prosecutors seized three bank accounts suspected of holding at least €100,000 in donations as part of the probe. They also took the group’s website offline.
The donations are important to the protests since they are used to pay travel expenses, police fines, and even small monthly stipends.
The raids, claimed German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, demonstrated that “the state isn’t prepared to be made a fool of.”
“Last Generation committed over 1,600 crimes last year alone, the majority of which were street blockades,” she added, adding that the organization had “crossed a red line.”
‘A chilling effect on environmental advocates’
Rights groups are concerned about the long-term repercussions of a predominantly nonviolent protest mode. “The persecution of the Letzte Generation has reached a new level of escalation,” Amnesty International tweeted.
The inquiry, according to the group, will have “a chilling effect on other climate activists who may now be too afraid to exercise their right to freedom of assembly.”
The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, also weighed in, saying climate activists “need to be protected, and we need them now more than ever.”
The police intervention has certainly had an impact on the Last Generation leadership, many of whom are young students. Carla Hinrichs, a group spokesman and one of those whose homes were raided, said she was awakened by a police officer brandishing a gun at her.
“They took everything that I use in my daily life, it was scary, they tried to scare me,” she said in a Twitter video. Police in Berlin are currently looking into her accusations. Mr Hinrichs, who was sentenced to three years on probation in a trial in Frankfurt last week, declined an interview request.
However, demonstrators remain stubborn, claiming that the timing of the police raids has nothing to do with the fact that the blockade has been lifted.
“It was always our intention to take a break at the end of May,” one of the group’s most active activists, Arne Springorum, stated.
He stated that the raids came “at the perfect time… just as we were running out of energy.” They’ve given us a tremendous boost.”
He said that the number of volunteers has increased since the raids, and that the group has already begun collecting funds in a new bank account.
“We’ll be back in Berlin in September with five times as many people, and because it worked so well, we’ll use street blockades again,” he stated.
