That investigation is also considering suspicions that Last Generation activists formed a criminal organization, a label that some conservative-leaning regional officials have backed. The Bavarian inquiry adds to an investigation launched last year by prosecutors in Neuruppin, outside Berlin, over actions against an oil refinery in eastern Germany. The investigation was launched following numerous criminal complaints from the public over the past year, prosecutors said. The investigation by Munich prosecutors is focused on seven people, ranging in age from 22 to 38, who are suspected of forming or supporting a criminal organization. Experts say that while Germany now has some of the most ambitious targets for cutting emissions of planet-heating greenhouse gas, the country isn't on track to meet them. Germany’s top court ruled two years ago that the previous government was placing too much of the burden from global warming on young people, prompting then-Chancellor Angela Merkel to sharpen climate targets. Last Generation has acknowledged in the past that its protests are provocative, but argues that by stirring friction it can encourage debate about climate change and the policies necessary to stop it. One protester, Chaim, who declined to give his last name for fear of legal repercussions, said he felt the crackdown against climate activists was politically motivated. Hundreds of people joined a protest march in Berlin against the raids and further rallies were planned in other German cities. “We must continue to resist now, because we need to loudly demand that lives be protected.” It is even stepping on the gas pedal,” she said. “The German government is right now driving us toward climate hell with its eyes wide open. “They make us afraid, but we must not be frozen by fear,” Aimee van Baalen told reporters in Berlin. The raids, ordered by Munich prosecutors, come days after Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that he thought it was “completely nutty to somehow stick yourself to a painting or on the street." Leading figures with the environmentalist Green party, part of his governing coalition, have also said the group's actions are counterproductive.Ī spokesperson for Last Generation said that the police searches had hit the group and its supporters hard, but that it wouldn't let up its activities. Over the past year, they have also targeted various artworks and exhibits. In recent weeks, they have brought traffic to a halt on an almost daily basis in Berlin, gluing themselves to busy intersections and highways. Members of the group have repeatedly blocked roads across Germany in an effort to pressure the government to take more drastic action against climate change. BERLIN - German police raided 15 properties linked to the Last Generation climate activist group Wednesday, seizing assets as part of an investigation into its finances in a sign of growing impatience with disruptive protest tactics also seen in other European countries.
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