German police launch nationwide raids targeting climate activists

BERLIN

German police raided the homes of Last Generation climate activists on Wednesday as part of an investigation into recent protests.

Munich prosecutors launched investigations into seven suspects age 22 to 38 on charges of “forming or supporting a criminal organization,” Bavaria’s Criminal Police Office said in a statement.

“The suspects are accused of organizing a fundraising campaign to finance the criminal acts committed by ‘Last Generation,’ propagating these acts on their website, and collecting a sum of at least €1.4 million ($1.5 billion) in donations,” the police said.

Two suspects are also suspected of having tried to sabotage the Trieste-Ingolstadt oil pipeline in the southeastern state of Bavaria in April 2022.

“The aim of the searches is to find evidence of the membership structure of Last Generation, to further clarify their financing and to confiscate assets,” the authorities said.

The police carried out searches at 15 properties in seven federal states, including Bavaria, Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, and Berlin, according to the prosecutors.

In recent months Last Generation sparked controversy in Germany with their radical protests and extreme actions. Climate activists glued their hands to famous paintings in museums and blocked highways and even airport runways to attract media attention.

Last Generation activists have accused the German government of not taking serious measures to limit global warming to 1.5C while instead further investing in fossil fuel infrastructure, endangering the future of humankind.