Latest reports show that German investigators have undertaken raids on members of the Last Generation climate activist group over their actions against an oil refinery in eastern Germany.
The group has been mired in a series of controversies in recent months after it briefly disrupted air traffic and staged frequent road blockades and protests in which artworks were targeted.
Cyrill Klement, a prosecutor in Neuruppin, north of Berlin, said that 11 premises across the country were searched, adding that they are under investigation on suspicion of disrupting public operations. He said that investigators are also looking into suspicions that they formed a criminal organization.
Klement said that the investigation centres on actions against the PCK Schwedt oil refinery on Germany’s border with Poland since April, which in some cases resulted in oil flows being interrupted. Activists achieved that with protests at pumping stations in eastern Germany that supply the facility — a key source of oil for that part of the country.
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In posts on Twitter, Last Generation wrote that devices such as laptops and cellphones, as well as posters, were confiscated in raids that started at 5 a.m. The group also stated that the government is leading the country toward “climate collapse” and it is drawing attention to that. It vowed that “we will continue to do so unchanged because we are the last generation that can do it.”
Opposition leader Friedrich Merz, whose centre-right bloc has been particularly critical of the group’s actions, welcomed the “house searches against so-called ‘climate activists.’”
But Luisa Neubauer, an activist with the more moderate Fridays for Future climate movement, complained on Twitter of “an infinitely disproportionate and absurd action” against Last Generation.
Story was adapted from AP.
