Germany: searches against members of an environmental collective

Searches were carried out in Germany on Wednesday against members of the environmental movement “Last Generation” (“Letzte Generation”), responsible for traffic blockages and damage to works of art with a view to denounce the policy carried out in the face of climate change. 

Police officers “searched fifteen places throughout the territory”, due to “suspicions of offenses committed by members of the Last Generation”, as part of an investigation for “training or support of a criminal organization”, a said the Munich public prosecutor's office.

Seven members of this group, aged 22 to 38, are targeted by this procedure, he added.

In detail, they are accused of having “advertised on the internet” and “organized” “fundraisers”, up to “1.4 million euros” to undertake illegal actions.

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Two members of “Last Generation” are suspected of having “attempted in April 2022 to sabotage the Trieste-Ingolstadt pipeline”, an oil pipeline passing through Bavaria (south), considered “essential infrastructure” by the authorities German.

This environmental collective is currently the most prominent in Germany. It has drawn attention in recent months for its actions of civil disobedience aimed at pushing the government to accelerate the fight against climate change.

Its members have repeatedly stuck their hands on the tarmac of big roads to interrupt traffic or projected different substances on tables in museums.

The searches took place in “seven German regions”, in particular in Berlin, Bavaria and Hesse (center), according to the prosecution.

“Accounts have been seized and assets have been secured”, he said, adding that the procedure was initiated “following numerous criminal complaints filed by the population since the middle of 2022″.

Hundreds of legal proceedings are already underway for the actions of this group, considered as constituting disturbances to public order and denounced by the government by Olaf Scholz. Recently, the court in Heilbronn (south-west) sentenced three activists to five, four and three months in prison.