Climate Activists Cause Flights to Stop at German Airports

Parked aircrafts operated by German airline Lufthansa are pictured at Berlin Brandenburg BER airport Willy-Brandt in Schoenefeld near Berlin, Germany, on May 31, 2021. Tobias Schwarz/AFP via Getty Images

Climate activists have attempted to block runways at four major German airports, bringing flight operations to a standstill.

On Thursday, the Last Generation (Letzte Generation) group said eight activists were involved in the protests at Berlin, Cologne-Bonn, Nuremberg, and Stuttgart airports, which started at about 5 a.m.

Flights were temporarily suspended at Cologne-Bonn after two people were reported to have attached themselves to the runway asphalt.

The group is protesting government oil contracts and is behind a wave of unlawful actions.

Last year, at least three dozen Last Generation supporters occupied one of Germany’s busiest motorways, causing massive disruption.

In September, protesters were dragged from the Berlin marathon after they threw orange paint and tried to block runners.

Other protests involve attacking works of art in galleries, such as throwing mashed potatoes at Claude Monet’s Les Meules at the Museum Barberini in Potsdam. Another activist glued herself to the frame of an oil painting by Lucas Cranach in Berlin’s Gemaldegalerie.

German Federal Minister of the Interior and Home Affairs Nancy Faeser wrote on the social media platform X on Thursday that the protesters could face lengthy sentences.

“These criminal actions are dangerous and stupid. The rioters are not only risking their own lives, but are also endangering others. We have proposed severe prison sentences. And we are requiring airports to make their facilities much more secure,” she said.

The group posted on X: “8 brave people are currently in police custody because they stood in the way of the fossil fuel madness. We refuse to die for the profits of a few!”

Last Generation receives a large part of its funds, which it says is for “recruitment, training and further education,” from the Climate Emergency Fund (CEF).

The CEF was founded and is partly funded by Aileen Getty, a U.S. billionaire and granddaughter of petroleum tycoon John Paul Getty. Aileen Getty co-founded the group with wealthy donors, including renewable fuels businessman Trevor Neilson and Rory Kennedy, daughter of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.

The CEF has awarded millions to an international network of activists, whom it calls the “disruptive arm of the global climate movement.”

Great Britain’s Just Stop Oil (JSO), Last Generation is a part of CEF’s A22 Network.

JSO activists attacked Vincent van Gogh’s painting of a vase of sunflowers by tossing a can of tomato soup at it and gluing themselves to the frame.

“What is worth more, art or life?” said one of the activists, Phoebe Plummer, at the time.

Activists with Just Stop Oil glue their hands to the wall after throwing soup at Vincent van Gogh's "Sunflowers" at the National Gallery in London, UK, on Oct. 14, 2022. Just Stop Oil/Handout via Reuters

‘Long, Long Prison Sentences’

Last month, Roger Hallam, the cofounder of Extinction Rebellion (XR), and four JSO activists were jailed for causing “massive disruption” on the M25.

Judge Christopher Hehir had warned that he would give them “long, long prison sentences” when a jury found them guilty on July 11.

Last November, the activists blocked one of the busiest and most congested parts of the British motorway network by climbing on motorway signs, criticizing what they call the government’s “inadequate preparations” for climate change.

A Sun journalist recorded a Zoom call and passed it on to authorities. The call showed “how intricately planned the disruption was and the sophistication involved” and was “compelling evidence” of a conspiracy, according to Hehir.

Hallam was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, while the remaining four defendants were each handed four years’ imprisonment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.