Berlin — Flights were suspended at two airports after the environmental activist group Last Generation launched protest actions at several German airports on Thursday, while a minister and an airport group demanded tougher sentences for disruptions.
The actions targeted the Berlin-Brandenburg, Stuttgart, Nuremberg and Cologne-Bonn airports, dpa photographers on site confirmed.
Flight operations at Cologne/Bonn Airport were interrupted after around 5:45 am ( 0345 GMT) as two people had attached themselves to the pavement on an access road to a runway, said a spokesman for the Federal Police.
They were removed and flights resumed but the airport said further delays were possible.
Similar protests halted flights at Nuremberg for about an hour, a police spokesman said, after two climate activists breached the airport's perimeter early in the morning. A dpa reporter on-site reported a hole in the fence in the southern area of the runway, with two bolt cutters lying nearby.
At Berlin's main airport BER and in Stuttgart, two activists glued themselves to surfaces, police reports said, noting all four were taken into custody. The protest did not affect flight operations, the police said.
Last Generation: Activists peacefully express resistance
Last Generation, in a statement, said two activists in orange high-visibility vests each entered the airports in Berlin-Brandenburg, Stuttgart, Nuremberg and Cologne-Bonn.
The statement said the runways were not entered. It said the activists peacefully expressed their resistance by displaying banners reading “Oil kills” and “Sign the treaty,” the organization reported. It did not specify the treaty, but it likely refers to the fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty initiative.
In October 2022 the European Parliament passed a resolution calling on nation-states to work on such a treaty.
The Last Generation group demands radical climate protection, including the complete renunciation of coal, oil and gas and is calling for the conclusion of an international treaty to this effect. The group has been organizing road blockades since the beginning of 2022.
But it had announced that it would change its strategy and that members would refrain from glueing themselves to the streets in future. The climate activists have also recently organized several disruptive actions at airports, including at Germany's largest airport in Frankfurt at the end of July.
Tougher laws to act as a deterrent
The German government wants to deter radical climate activists and others from carrying out dangerous protests at airports by tightening up the Aviation Security Act.
The core of the planned reform, which still has to be approved by the Bundestag, or parliament, is the creation of a new provision that makes "intentional, unauthorized intrusion" onto the tarmac and runways a punishable offence if it impairs the safety of civil air traffic.
Minister, lawmakers slam protests
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser called protest actions at German airports in which activists attach themselves to the tarmac "dangerous and stupid" and suggested tougher penalties.
"These criminal actions are dangerous and stupid," Faeser said in a post on X of the latest protests.
"The troublemakers are not only risking their own lives but also endangering others," she wrote, noting that the government has proposed a "severe prison sentence."
The government is also requiring airports to "significantly improve the security of their facilities," she said.
The "crimes of Last Generation" repeatedly endanger "the safety and operation of important infrastructure," said Bijan Djir-Sarai, the general secretary of the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP).
"They divide our society and do a disservice to climate protection." The FDP is the junior coalition partner in the German government.
Police union: Make protesters pay
Climate activists should be held accountable for potential financial damages resulting from their actions at airports, according to Germany's police trade union.
The union said activists are liable for the damage caused by flight cancellations and disruptions to airline operations. They should bear the costs, said Ralf Kusterer, deputy national and regional chairman of the union in Baden-Württemberg, in the south-west.
"Anyone who deliberately brings infrastructure to a standstill by using their body as an insurmountable barrier and acting without regard for the affected legal rights and interests is acting immorally," he said.
Such immorality is the basis for civil claims, Kusterer said, adding that independently, the law should pursue activists and further costs for the police operation and the removal of the disturbance should be imposed on them.
Airport group demands tougher deterrents, laws
Germany's ADV airport association demanded the swift passing of the law and called for a decisive response to the disruptive protests earlier on Thursday.
ADV Managing Director Ralph Beisel described the protests that caused delays at airports "a concerted act of criminal extortion."
Beisel called the protests "crimes" that must be "consistently sanctioned" by the judiciary. He demanded that an approved cabinet decision be "immediately" passed by the Bundestag, or parliament, to tighten the Aviation Security Act.
Last week, the ADV made a proposal to the climate activists for a dialogue. In an open letter the group acknowledged climate change as one of the greatest challenges of modern times.
The association said it wanted to inform climate activists, in a conversation, about the latest climate policy and measures airports are taking. It also wants to discuss with them the impact of runway blockades on airport safety.
In a post on X, Last Generation said it would gladly accept the offer for dialogue.
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