Lower Saxony's President for the Protection of the Constitution, Bernhard Witthaut, warns against the radicalization of individuals from the circle of the climate protection movement.
“What we see on the internet worries me.
In the digital echo chambers of parts of the movement there are also very radical voices that are discussing far more drastic actions than those we have seen so far," he told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung.
Witthaut said he feared that individuals felt compelled to commit crimes to achieve supposed climate goals in reality.
At the same time, he emphasized that the movement was not radical in its breadth.
He warned against generalization: "Fridays for Future relies on legitimate forms of protest and mild variants of civil disobedience." Other parts of the movement are ready to take more drastic measures, including criminal acts.
"Your own life is also put at risk, as the hunger strikes in front of the Chancellery have shown," said Witthaut.
In these circles, violence against things like pipelines is seen as a legitimate means of achieving one's own goals.
“The activists act in the belief that they can also use violence to achieve their goals in an alleged climate emergency.
There's no point in discussing it," stressed Witthaut.
Groups such as Extinction Rebellion and Last Generation Uprising also have connections to the left-wing extremist scene.
This ranges from joint demonstrations to training courses in activism.