Two weeks after the blockade of the airport in Berlin, activists are once again sticking themselves to the airport grounds – in Munich and in Berlin. A plane with a passenger suspected of having a heart attack lands late. There was protest from all sides for the actions.
Munich (dpa/lby) – Climate activists blocked the northern runway at Munich Airport for 45 minutes on Thursday. A plane with an emergency patient could therefore only land 20 minutes late, as the Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) said. His condition is stable. Overall, the impact of the action on air traffic was low, there were no cancellations, said an airport spokesman.
Four members of the “Last Generation” group cut a hole in the fence in the morning and taped themselves to a runway. The police prevented the blockade of the southern runway by three other activists, said Herrmann. Air traffic could therefore continue via the southern runway.
At 8:30 a.m., a machine approaching Munich reported a medical emergency. “An 80-year-old passenger complained of chest pains,” said the Minister of the German Press Agency. The plane was supposed to land on the northern runway at 9:18 a.m., but had to be diverted to the southern runway because of the blockade, where it was only able to land at 9:38 a.m.
Herrmann called for the security concept at the airport to be reviewed. Such blockade actions are irresponsible and dangerous: “These activists are obviously so stubborn that they don’t care if other people get hurt.”
Climate activists stuck themselves to Berlin Airport for the second time on Thursday, but on an apron near the fence. They did not get to the runway, said a spokeswoman for the federal police. Flight operations were not affected this time, said a BER spokesman.
The “Last Generation” group calls for more climate protection, a speed limit of 100 kilometers per hour on motorways and a 9-euro train ticket for the whole of Germany. It was only on Tuesday that she had a conversation with Interior Minister Herrmann at the initiative of the Evangelical Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm. Spokeswoman Aimée van Baalen said: “But what we need in the face of the impending climate hell are actions and not just empty words”.
The Working Group of German Airports (ADV) criticized the blockades: “It is unacceptable if the safety of air traffic is endangered,” said General Manager Ralph Beisel. Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) spoke of “criminal machinations” that had nothing to do with legitimate protests. “A democracy decides on the basis of majorities and cannot be blackmailed.” Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) said that protesting against climate destruction was correct. “But it should be chosen in such a way that people do not suffer unnecessarily, so that public acceptance of climate protection is not endangered.”
Shortly after 9 a.m. in Munich, three men and a woman entered the security area of the airport through a cut wire mesh fence and stuck themselves to a runway on the northern runway. According to their own statements, among them were a 59-year-old and a young man who had already been in preventive custody because of previous actions in Munich. The police prevented three other activists from getting onto another runway. All seven were taken into custody. A judge was due to decide on the length of detention on Thursday.
The airport announced that traffic on the Norbahn was back to normal as early as 9:59 a.m. “The last person who was stuck was released by the police and airport fire brigade at 11:09 a.m. and taken into custody,” said the police headquarters in Upper Bavaria North.
Herrmann praised the fact that the police had managed to keep other “climate chaos” away from the southern runway. “Three people were temporarily arrested there. They will initially be taken into custody along with the climate stickers on the northern runway,” he said. In the case of the Nordbahn stickers, there is a suspicion of a dangerous intervention in air traffic. The penalty is up to ten years imprisonment. It is an unabashed ruthlessness not only to constantly violate the law, but also to potentially endanger a large number of other people with insane actions, said the interior minister.
Climate activists had repeatedly blocked roads and highways in Munich and Berlin. Already on November 24, they had paralyzed Berlin Airport for almost two hours. On Thursday, two activists again stuck to an apron. The federal police said six other activists had not entered the site. Since the last incident, she has increased her strength.
CDU/CSU faction deputy Andrea Lindholz (CSU) calls for more powers for the federal police: “Like the Bavarian police, the federal police should be given extended powers for preventive custody in order to be able to effectively prevent recalcitrant offenders from repeat offenses in hardship cases,” she told the newspapers of the Mediengruppe Bayern (Friday). In Bavaria, four members of the “Last Generation” were in preventive custody on Thursday. A judge ordered two of them to be held in custody until January 5.