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CLIMATE CRISIS

Berlin police call for consequences as climate protesters glue themselves to streets

On Monday morning, climate protesters from the 'Last Generation' glued themselves to major streets. Police and politicians called for tougher penalties against the group, who bill themselves as carrying out civil disobedience.

A climate activist who taped his hand to a highway exit ramp at Innsbrucker Platz in Berlin is cut loose by police officers.
A climate activist who taped his hand to a highway exit ramp at Innsbrucker Platz in Berlin is cut loose by police officers. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Christoph Soeder

Climate activists from the group “Last Generation” blocked important motorway access roads in Berlin on Monday morning. Police were deployed at six locations, which opened up again for regular traffic by the afternoon.

Both police and politicians pleaded for tougher measures against the protesters, who have been taking various actions around Germany, ranging from climbing monuments to unfurl signs to glueing themselves to airport tarmacs. The group has grabbed nationwide headlines after it blocked planes from landing at both Berlin and Munich’s airports.

READ ALSO: Munich airport forced to close runway due to climate protest

Berlin’s police on Monday called for up to seven days of detention following their road-blocking protest actions, which the group themselves bills as pacifist but that opponents say put the public in potentially dangerous and costly traffic situations.

Some of the protests have also carried heavier financial costs, such as when two protesters threw mashed potatoes at a Claude Monet painting. Both protesters were arrested for trespassing and property damage.

READ ALSO: German climate activists pour mashed potatoes on €111 million Monet work

The “Last Generation” has been taking radical actions almost daily for the past year in order to draw attention to climate change and call on society to take urgent action. 

Some, such as Monday’s demo, are in the form of blockade actions on streets, where activists glue themselves to the roadway. The group itself reported on Monday that they had blocked roads at five locations in Berlin; in addition, a 72-year-old man chained himself to a gantry over a motorway.

The group’s demands include a speed limit of 100 km per hour on motorways, a nationwide nine-euro ticket and a general renunciation of fossil fuels such as coal. 

Proportional punishment?

Protestant Bishop Christian Stäblein called on rbb24 Inforadio to engage more with the concerns and to enter into dialogue. 

“This does not mean legitimising the breaking of the law,” he said, “but society has shown a certain sluggishness when it comes to climate protection.”

But CDU parliamentary group leader Kai Wegner, on the other hand, called for a hard line against the protesters.

Munich has been taking consistent action against the “climate gluers,” said Wegner. He pointed out that Bavaria’s capital bans their protest actions on roads important for emergency services and on bridges.

“Berlin’s interior senate should order the same in Berlin,” Wegner said.

Berlin’s police union also said it was the task of politicians to “secure social peace.”

According to spokesman Benjamin Jendro, “The possibility of detention for four or seven days would do its part and prevent our colleagues from having to go out every day in wind and [bad] weather with plenty of cooking oil.” The latter is used to loosen the adhesive on the roadway.

Currently, according to the police, activists can be taken into custody for up to 48 hours as a precaution. In Bavaria, such preventive detention is possible for up to 30 days. 

This long period has sparked a debate about the proportionality of the consequences in the two major capitals.

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WILDLIFE

Southern Germany sees explosion of mosquitos after floods

First flooding, and now a plague of mosquitos: hoards of the annoying bloodsuckers are spreading on Lake Constance. Here's what to expect if you are visiting the region.

Southern Germany sees explosion of mosquitos after floods

After severe floods in southern Germany, conditions are ripe for mosquito populations to explode, according to an expert in the region. 

Rainer Bretthauer, environmental and climate protection officer at the city of Radolfzell on Lake Constance, told DPA that the popular holiday location is already seeing signs of a mosquito plague.

 Bretthauer said that the floods have offered perfect conditions for egg laying, resulting in masses of mosquito offspring.

People living around the area or visiting should be prepared, Bretthauer said. He suggested, for instance, wearing loose-fitting and long clothing.

Timing also plays a role when you’re outside. “They tend to bite during twilight hours when the temperature is higher than 18C,” he said. 

Mosquitos ‘not a bad thing for wildlife’

While growing mosquito hoards may ruin peoples’ camping trips and planned lake vacations, for local wildlife, the mosquitos are a good thing, according to the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (Nabu).

“All the insects that are now developing are a very important food source for many fish species and also for birds,” said Eberhard Klein from Nabu in Constance.

Around 50 species of mosquitoes are known in Germany. Some of them are counted among the so-called floodwater mosquitoes, which increasingly hatch after flooding.

According to experts, these mosquitos are particularly zealous blood hunters, as they have to reproduce quickly before the favourable conditions disappear again.

Floodwater mosquitoes like to lay their eggs on moist soil, often in riparian zones and floodplains. There they can survive in the soil for several years.

When these zones flood and the temperature is favourable, the eggs develop and hatch mosquitos. Therefore large-scale flooding, as seen recently in Southern Germany, can lead to mass hatching.

Mosquito borne illness is spreading to Europe as temperatures warm

Warming temperatures brought by human-caused climate change have allowed mosquito populations to extend further northward in Europe, including disease-carrying species that were previously limited to regions closer to the equator.

For example, the Asian tiger mosquito is not native to Europe but has already been observed in much of southern and central Europe, including Germany.

Tiger mosquitos are particularly concerning because they are known to spread diseases such as dengue fever, chikungunya and Zika virus. Mass outbreaks of these infections have been rising globally. Last year local Dengue outbreaks were recorded in France, Italy and Spain.

With reporting by DPA

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