Climate activists glue themselves to roads, stop Berlin traffic

Climate activists glue themselves to roads, stop Berlin traffic
By Sebastien ASH
Berlin (AFP) April 24, 2023

Environmental activists glued themselves to the asphalt in dozens of street blockades across Berlin on Monday to demand the government do more to tackle climate change, an action condemned by Germany's finance minister as "physical violence".

"We no longer accept that the government has no plan to stop the destruction of the basis of our existence," Carla Rochel, a spokeswoman for Last Generation, the group behind the protests, said in a statement.

The action was swiftly rejected by Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government, with spokesman Steffen Hebestreit saying: "We do not support such forms of protest".

Around 200 arrests were made over the protests, Berlin's regional interior minister Iris Spranger said on Twitter.

Campaigners launched their protests at the start of morning rush hour traffic.

They glued themselves to the street surface, halting traffic across the Berlin, including on the city's busy A100 motorway.

Police used a drill to dislodge one activist who was glued firmly to the ground, an AFP journalist saw, leaving the protestor with a slab of asphalt stuck to his hand.

Around 500 officers were deployed to secure the streets and clear demonstrators from over 30 protest sites, a spokeswoman for the Berlin police told AFP.

The protestors' actions caused "massive traffic disruptions" across the city, Berlin's transport information network said on Twitter, with police working through to morning to remove the activists.

- Climate targets -

The campaign group has in recent months carried out a string of protests, blocking roads and spraying public buildings with paint to raise awareness of climate change and putting pressure on the government in Berlin, a coalition between the Social Democrats, the pro-business FDP and the Greens.

Among other measures, Last Generation has called for the government to provide a "detailed plan" to meet the goal of a 1.5-degree Celsius global warming limit and introduce a general speed limit.

"We're bringing the city to a standstill so the government moves," Last Generation activist Raphael Thelen said in a video posted on Twitter.

Monday's protests "exceeded our highest expectations", the group's spokeswoman Aimee van Baalen said in a statement.

Social Democrat Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told the Tagesspiegel daily she did not have the "slightest understanding" of the form of protests.

Faeser backed police enforcement action, saying activists would not be allowed to "walk all over the rule of law" with their protests.

- 'Physical violence' -

Finance Minister Christian Lindner condemned the protesters' action, saying on Twitter that "no motive, no matter how noble, can hide the fact that the Berlin Blockade is nothing other than physical violence".

"Those who want a different policy can found a party and seek majorities for their positions," added the minister from the FDP.

The Greens, also part of Scholz's coalition, likewise criticised the protests. The street blockades were "not productive", Britta Hasselmann, the Green party's leader in parliament, told broadcaster ARD.

Last Generation has signalled its intention to continue with the blockades over the coming days.

Hundreds of legal proceedings are underway against members of Last Generation over the protests.

Recently, a court in the southwestern city of Heilbronn handed prison sentences of between three and five months to three activists for their part in protests.