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Climate activist of the »Last Generation«

Photo: HANNIBAL HANSCHKE / EPA

The SPD chairman Saskia Esken has warned against an excessive approach against climate protection activists. There is a danger of a further radicalization of the movement and therefore it is necessary for the security authorities to observe this, Esken told the dpa news agency. "In our constitutional state, however, it is important that the means used by the authorities are always proportionate and not excessive."

Last Wednesday, the police and the public prosecutor's office raided the climate protection group "Last Generation". Around 170 officers searched 15 apartments and business premises in seven federal states, according to the Munich Public Prosecutor's Office and the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office. The accusation is of forming or supporting a criminal organization.

»Treated like felons«

The activists deny being criminals, although several have already been convicted of crimes, some of them to prison. The raid was criticized by many as exaggerated. The initiative itself complained that its members felt "treated like serious criminals". During the large-scale raid, for example, the apartment of spokeswoman Carla Hinrichs in Berlin's Kreuzberg district was also searched. The climate activist accused the police of getting her out of bed at gunpoint.

SPD leader Esken is now defending the organization against its critics: Although she could understand that many people are angry about the blockades on the streets, she said. But politicians must accept "that joining a party and going through the institutions is not the only way to be politically active." The concern of the climate protectors is "significant and also urgent", she can understand the impatience of young people, said Esken. Even the non-parliamentary, activist movements must have their place in the democratic community.

At the same time, Esken sees the possibility of a radicalization of the movement. "Even though politics has moved considerably in recent years," everything seems "too little and too late" to the "last generation." Also, coercion or even violence against people "cannot be accepted," said Esken. If laws are broken, it must be punished.

RAI/DPA