"Letzte Generation" (Last Generation), a climate activist group have been designated as a “criminal organization” by Germany's Munich Regional Court, which announced the ruling on Thursday after considering ten complaints from the climate activists over searches and seizures.
The court dismissed the complaints, ruling that the Last Generation meet the requirements to be considered an organized crime group – arguing that committing crimes does not necessarily need to be the only purpose of a group to be designated as such.
The court said the group’s activities, including disrupting traffic and damaging property, constitute a significant threat to public safety and order.
The Last Generation emerged in August 2021. Their first major action was a hunger strike by seven activists, demanding a public conversation on climate with the then-candidates for the country’s elections to succeed Angela Merkel as Chancellor. Weeks into the campaign, Olaf Scholz, the current Chancellor, agreed to a sit-down, though the activists were far from satisfied with his climate plan.
These days, the group have organized marches and rallies demanding the country eliminate all human-caused emissions by 2030, two decades earlier than the 2050 goal that underpins most international climate negotiations. They’re also known for gluing themselves to roadways to block traffic, throwing paint on public monuments, and, most memorably, hurtling mashed potatoes on a painting by Claude Monet at Museum Barberini in Potsdam (the painting wasn’t damaged).
Those are similar to the tactics being employed by other new, radical climate activist groups in the UK (e.g. Just Stop Oil) and across Europe. Members of the Letzte Generation say those actions are necessary to draw attention to the urgency of the climate crisis (though there are other climate groups that disagree).
The methods have divided, and in some cases infuriated, the German public. Motorists trapped behind blockades have assaulted demonstrators. In July, in Stralsund in northern Germany, a truck driver reportedly attempted to run them over.
Still, I reckon branding this climate activist faction a criminal organization is not going to deter or cow them. They're already seeing it as a state effort to quell peaceful protest to oppose what they frame as a suicidal lack of government climate action.
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