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Why are Last Generation activists in Germany getting prison sentences?

A Last Generation activist was sentenced to prison for criminal acts of protest on Wednesday. As investigations into the climate group continue, The Local takes a look at how German prosecutors are coming down hard on its activists.

Published: 19 July 2024 09:05 CEST

A police officer observes a group from the environmental group “Last Generation” at Berlin's central station. Woman's sign reads "Climate protection is not criminal". Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Paul Zinken

The Tiergarten District Court sentenced a leading member of the Last Generation climate activism organisation to a prison sentence of one year and four months without parole on Wednesday.

The sentence was confirmed to Tagesspiegel by a spokeswoman for the court.

Charges were brought against 32-year-old Miriam M., a leading organiser for Last Generation who has previously been fined for acts of protest.

She has been found guilty of resisting law enforcement officers, damage to property, and coercion (here meaning recruiting members to commit similar acts).

According to the court, M. played a significant role in at least seven previous actions including five road blockades, and smearing orange paint on the façade of the Federal Ministry of Transport as well as the Gucci store on Berlin’s Ku’damm.

Miriam M. commented on the indictment on Platform X, suggesting that her crimes were committed in an effort to “to preserve our safe life in the future”.

In a statement on X, Last Generation stated: “If peaceful protest is criminalised, it concerns us all.”

This verdict comes as prosecutors across Germany appear to be cracking down on disruptive climate protests, especially on members of Last Generation.

This sentencing of M., along with the rulings on a number of on-going cases brought against her and other Last Generation members can be expected to shape how the German judiciary deals with disruptive climate protests going forward.

What’s the case against Last Generation?

Last Generation members are the target of multiple ongoing investigations in Germany. Several of which are looking into the suspicion that Last Generation is a “criminal organisation”.

As reported by Spiegel, the public prosecutor’s office in Neuruppin, a town in Brandenburg, has filed charges against five climate activists for the formation of a criminal organisation.

The initial crime at the centre of the Neuruppin investigation: tampering with an oil pumping station. Last Generation members admitted to turning off a pipeline connected to the PCK refinery in Schwedt with an emergency off switch.

oil pipeline shut down

Self-portrait of two members of Last Generation after they shut down an oil pipeline in an act of protest. Photo provided by Last Generation.

The Flensburg public prosecutor’s office followed with its own charges brought specifically against Miriam M., on the suspicion that she “participated in a criminal organisation”.

This indictment also mentions a case of tampering with a crude oil pipeline as well as glueing herself to the runway of the Munich Airport, and taking part in the group that sprayed orange paint on a private jet on Sylt.

The Munich public prosecutor’s office is also investigating Last Generation.

But legal opinions are divided as to whether or not Last Generation should really be considered a criminal organisation.

According to Section 129 of Germany’s Criminal Code, an association is considered criminal if its purpose is to commit crimes – specifically crimes that are serious enough to warrant a two-year prison sentence.

According to Reinhard Röttle, attorney general in Munich, the case is clear. He told Spiegel that the group “openly calls for crime and recruits members for this purpose”.

road blockade

Members of Last Generation block a highway in protest of Germany’s lack of action on climate change. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/ZUMA Press Wire | Andreas Stroh

But the chair of German and European criminal law at the University of Trier, Mohamad El-Ghazi doubts that the crimes committed by Last Generation have exceeded the threshold of significance: “We must not shoot sparrows with cannons”, he said about the cases brought so far.

Are climate protest groups being disproportionately targeted?

A common critique of Last Generation and similar activist groups is that they cross the line from peaceful protest to criminality when they block traffic or damage property.

However, members of the groups saying that politicians, corporations and society at large tends not to react to protests that aren’t disruptive.

A statement posted by Last Generation on X on Wednesday sums up the sentiment among young people in Germany who are concerned about the government’s watered-down climate policies:

“Breaking: The federal government is reacting to our protests and tightening the climate protection law!

Oh, misread.

The climate protection law is being watered down. Laws to ‘deter activists’ are being tightened.”

Breaking: Die Bundesregierung reagiert auf unsere Proteste und verschärft das Klimaschutzgesetz!

Oh, verlesen.

Das Klimaschutzgesetz wird verwässert. Verschärft werden Gesetze zur “Abschreckung von Aktivisten”.

Prioritäten 🤷‍♀️https://t.co/TuGl98MnvB

— Letzte Generation (@AufstandLastGen) July 17, 2024

The post links to a press release from Germany Interior Ministry announcing that the Federal Cabinet adopted a draft law intended to increase the punishment for people who trespass on airport tarmacs.

If the law goes forward, protestors could face up to two years in prison should they try to block an airport runway in the future.

Germany has a reputation for a strong commitment to freedom of speech and the right to protest. But some watchdog groups suggest that these standards are slipping.

Global civil society alliance CIVICUS, which monitors civil freedoms around the world, downgraded Germany’s human rights rating from “open” to “narrowed” back in 2023.

The report cited disproportionate force used against climate protests, and the police raids against Last Generation specifically in their report.

“Germany used to be one of the most free countries in Europe. Now Germany is leading the pack in the EU-wide crackdown on climate activism,” said Tara Petrović, CIVICUS Monitor’s Europe and Central Asia researcher in a statement.

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Traffic was halted during the busy summer holiday season for two hours before the first of the airport’s landing runways was able to operate again at 0502 GMT, said a spokesman at the airport.

Passengers were advised to check the status of their flights while the airport ramped up its operations again.

Seven of the activists had managed to reach the runway where they glued themselves onto the tarmac, a police spokesman said. The eighth was still trying to get through the perimeter fence when he was detained.

The police operation to clear activists off the airport’s restricted grounds was ongoing, added the spokesman. All eight were arrested.

According to climate activist group “Letzte Generation” (Last Generation) which claimed the civil disobedience action, its members had used pincers to cut openings in the wire fence before making their way “by foot, with bicycles and skateboards to different points around the runways”.

A photo circulated by the group depicted a protester sitting on the tarmac with an orange banner “oil kills”.

The group is pushing for a binding international accord that would lead to an end in oil, gas and coal use by 2030.

Transport Minister Volker Wissing condemned the protests Thursday as “criminal” action and demanded tough penalties against the activists.

“The climate activists are apparently seeking to bring about maximum damage. The legislators must react with maximum severity,” he told German media, calling for prison terms of up to five years in jail for those who storm airports.

“Anyone who violently forces their way into airports, occupies runways and blocks airplanes is endangering human lives,” he said.

Concerted action

Thursday’s protest action came a day after similar operations across several European airports.

Activists from Letzte Generation disrupted traffic at Cologne-Bonn airport for several hours on Wednesday by glueing themselves on the tarmac.

Several climate protesters were also arrested at London’s Heathrow airport.

The protest organisers are part of the A22 Network of groups committed to non-violent climate protests, which said it was planning to disrupt airports in several countries in the coming months.

Last Generation activists

Security staff direct people away from the runway next to a cut wire fence where activists went onto the runway. Photo: Daniel Roland / AFP

Protests were planned in Britain, Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, United States and Norway, UK-based activists from the alliance told AFP earlier in July.

Global aviation is responsible for around 2.5 percent of global carbon emissions, more than the annual carbon footprint of Brazil and France combined.

Last Generation is known for mounting eye-catching protests – from throwing mashed potatoes at paintings in museums to glueing themselves on busy roads.

Their tactics, which have proved deeply divisive, have led to some of their members being convicted.

“Instead of seeking tougher sentences, politicians should seriously take the scale of the disaster that they are themselves fuelling,” said Lisa Johnson, spokeswoman of the group.

“Prison sentences won’t shield us from heatwaves, droughts, floods and dramatically rising sea levels,” she warned.

Letzte Generation has said it would hold protests from September 25th against planned government subsidies for Kassel-Calden airport.