Raid on German climate group Last Generation

Brandenburg prosecutor's office had police deployed across Germany, climate activists locate "intimidation attempt"

On Tuesday, German police raided the climate protection group Letzte Generation. On the initiative of the public prosecutor’s office in Neuruppin (Brandenburg), apartments of suspected activists were searched in a total of eleven locations throughout Germany; no arrests were made. Investigations are being conducted on “initial suspicion of the formation or support of a criminal organization, disturbance of public businesses, trespassing and coercion,” reports the magazine “Spiegel,” citing the senior public prosecutor in charge.

Protest in spring
The reason for the nationwide searches are apparently protest actions of the Last Generation against a refinery operation in Schwedt, Brandenburg, in the spring. Members of the group are said to have turned off emergency valves of an oil pipeline there. The apartment of Carla Hinrichs, the press spokeswoman for Last Generation, was also searched, according to her. On Twitter, the group speaks of an “intimidation attempt”.

Since the summer, Last Generation has been making headlines with drastic actions in Germany, but also in Austria: The members pour tomato sauce on artworks in museums, for example, and stick themselves to the frames. They also stick themselves to streets, for example in Vienna and the provinces, and to airport grounds; in Berlin, they once paralyzed operations for hours. Some think the alarm is justified, but there is also much criticism of the actions.