BERLIN (AP) — Climate activists staged protests at several German airports on Thursday, forcing a temporary halt to flights at some of them in the latest of a string of similar demonstrations.
The Last Generation group said a total of eight activists were involved in the protests at Berlin, Cologne-Bonn, Nuremberg and Stuttgart airports, which started around 5 a.m. The group is demanding that the German government negotiate and sign an agreement on a global exit from the use of oil, gas and coal by 2030.
Flights were suspended at Cologne-Bonn after two people were reported to have attached themselves to the asphalt, but later resumed, German news agency dpa reported. Police said a hole was found in an airport fence. Flights also were halted for about an hour at Nuremberg. At Berlin Airport, two people who had attached themselves to the ground were removed and detained.
Last Generation last month staged protests at Cologne-Bonn Airport and Frankfurt Airport, Germany’s busiest, which significantly disrupted passenger flights. Earlier this month, an overnight protest by climate activists at Leipzig/Halle Airport, a major air freight hub, forced a three-hour halt to cargo flights.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser wrote on social network X that “these criminal actions are dangerous and stupid” and that protesters “are not just risking their own lives but also endangering others.”
She pointed to legislation approved by the German Cabinet last month that would impose tougher penalties on people who break through airport perimeters.
The bill, which still requires approval by lawmakers, foresees punishment ranging up to a two-year prison sentence for people who intentionally intrude on airside areas of airports such as taxiways or runways, endanger civil aviation, or enable someone else to. Currently such intrusions only draw a fine.
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