Climate activists sparked outrage among German politicians on Saturday (March 4) after spraying black liquid on a monument inscribed with the articles of the Constitution near the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag , in Berlin.
“A monument with our constitution has been stained. This makes me angry and I have no understanding,” Social Democratic Bundestag President Bärbel Bas said in a statement.
Earlier, the Letzte Generation (Last Generation) group, which is behind many punch actions to raise awareness of global warming, posted a video on social networks showing people dressed in orange safety vests spraying black liquid some of the nineteen three-meter high glass panels on which the articles of the constitution are engraved. They then pasted posters with the slogan “Oil or Constitutional Rights?” “. The nature of the liquid is not yet identified, police said.
Six activists participated, their identity was noted and complaints were filed, a spokesperson for the police told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The monument, named Grungesetz 49 in reference to the constitutional law implemented in West Germany in 1949, is the work of Israeli visual artist, Dani Karavan.
The message “can only be bad”
Activists say they want to protest Germany’s continued use of fossil fuels, and remind the government of its constitutional duty to act urgently on global warming as the country aims for climate neutrality only in 2045 .
Whatever message is supposed to be related to the defacement of the monument, “it can only be bad”, tackled the Liberal Minister of Justice, Marco Buschmann, on Twitter. “The constitution embodies freedom, democracy and the rule of law. It should never be defiled” for whatever reason, he said.
The Greens, government allies of the Social Democrats and Liberals, also strongly condemned the action, as did opposition Conservatives.
The Letzte Generation group has drawn attention in recent months through several actions of civil disobedience, blocking major roads or projecting different substances on paintings in museums. Their initiatives could have legal consequences with the opening at the end of 2022, by a regional prosecutor’s office, of an investigation against activists “suspected of forming or supporting a criminal organization”.
