A group of climate protection activists got stuck twice within a few hours on a main thoroughfare in the center of Munich. Now the Bavarian police law is applied – to an extent that is rare.
Munich (dpa/lby) – Several climate protection activists have to remain in police custody for 30 days after two sticking actions on a central traffic junction in Munich. “It’s very, very rare that this is used, it’s really a big exception,” said a spokesman for the Munich police headquarters of the German Press Agency on Friday.
According to the Bavarian Police Tasks Act, citizens can be detained for up to one month on the basis of a judicial decision in order to prevent the commission of an administrative offense of considerable importance to the general public or a criminal offence. This period can be extended by a maximum of one additional month.
The day before, 17 climate protection activists from the group “Last Generation” had blocked the street in a central square in downtown Munich, most of them sticking one hand to the roadway. This caused obstructions in both directions at the Stachus for more than two hours. Those involved, between the ages of 18 and 79, were charged with coercion and violations of the Assembly Act. Nevertheless, 15 of them repeated the action a few hours later at the same place.
Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) had already made his point of view clear at this point: “We can under no circumstances allow this dangerous breach of the law to become the norm. This is unacceptable and must be legally pursued with all consequences,” he told the media group Bavaria. At the weekend, 15 climate protection activists from the “Scientist Rebellion” group were taken into custody in Munich after a series of street blockades and tape actions – but only for a maximum of one week.
The judge who had to rule on the police custody of “Last Generation” activists went beyond this example. Since those involved announced further blockade actions, according to the police, police custody was requested for the 15 men and women at the district court until December 2nd. As of 3 p.m., the judge had ruled that two of the activists would be held until midnight on Friday, but three would remain in custody until early December. The police wanted to announce the respective decision after hearing the other ten participants in the evening.
“These people don’t need pity from us, they need us to stand up, join the resistance ourselves and demand the first simple security measures from the government,” said a spokeswoman for “Last Generation” when asked. “We knew that in Bavaria there was a risk that we would be locked up for a longer period of time, but that didn’t stop these people because we know that if we don’t change direction now, we’ll be racing into a climate catastrophe.” So far, the longest police custody imposed on activists in Germany was five days.
