2024-08-13 13:26:21
They stuck themselves to the runway or the fence of Frankfurt Airport. Now the police came to the apartments to secure evidence.
Following the disruptive action at Frankfurt Airport two weeks ago, the Frankfurt public prosecutor’s office searched the apartments of members of the climate group Last Generation and took DNA samples. The Frankfurt public prosecutor’s office announced that the apartments of eight suspects in Baden-Württemberg, Berlin, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt were affected on suspicion of coercion, damage to property and trespassing.
These eight people, aged between 20 and 44, are said to have gained access to the runway at 4:45 a.m. on July 25. One person stuck himself directly to the destroyed fence, while the other seven stuck themselves to several places on the runway. They were arrested that day and later released.
According to the climate group, a total of apartments belonging to “peaceful protesters” were searched. The police “stormed” the rooms at 6:30 a.m. By sticking stickers on the runways, the climate protesters brought operations at the airport to a standstill for hours. According to the public prosecutor’s office, the DNA samples will be used to compare them with traces found at the crime scene. The investigating authorities did not want to provide further details because the proceedings are ongoing.
Security circles said that “left-wing extremist actors are increasingly trying to influence climate protection groups, to make them receptive to their anti-constitutional goals and to introduce their own narratives, patterns of interpretation and action into the various climate groups.” Violent left-wing extremists are trying to deliberately promote an escalation of the climate protests, for example by trying to establish the sabotage of critical infrastructure facilities as a supposedly legitimate form of action.
Despite the house searches, the Last Generation intends to continue its protests at airports, as it announced in a statement. It called on potential supporters to show their solidarity with the group in the coming days by displaying protest signs at airports.
The airport association ADV, meanwhile, sought talks with the activists. In an open letter from the ADV, it said: “It is undeniable that climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time. Criminal blockades of airports do not contribute to the solution.” Instead, they wanted to talk to the climate activists about the measures that the airports are taking to protect the climate.
According to a current situation report, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution still has “no sufficiently strong evidence of anti-constitutional activity” regarding the Last Generation. However, the development of the group and its forms of action are continually being reassessed, it continues. Berlin is the federal state with the highest known number of Last Generation activists (283), followed by Baden-Württemberg (183), Bavaria (122), Lower Saxony (117) and North Rhine-Westphalia (106).
According to the situation report, a large proportion of the 1,104 people in Germany who are classified by the security authorities as belonging to the last generation are not only active locally, but are also involved in actions across the region.