Climate activists keep causing traffic jams on the highways. In Berlin, a special vehicle from the fire brigade is delayed in an accident. For many, a limit has been crossed – calls for harsh punishment for the activists are getting louder. However, the criminal law has not yet been designed for this.
How far can climate protest go? The whole of Germany is discussing this these days, because the actions of the protest group “Last Generation” are becoming more and more radical: where the climate activists stick, traffic stands still, mashed potatoes drip from a 100 million euro Monet painting or orange paint from the Willy Brandt A house. The group is concerned with reducing CO2 – initially by extending the 9-euro ticket and setting a speed limit. To do this, she deliberately attacks buildings, art and the scheduling of uninvolved motorists. Because that draws attention. And outrage.
This reached a climax when it was said on Monday that two of the members had caused a traffic jam that cost a fire department rescue vehicle valuable time. Accordingly, the special vehicle came too late to an accident with a cyclist. The 44-year-old was seriously injured and was declared brain dead after three days this Thursday.
For many, the climate protests have crossed a line. The eyes are directed to the criminal justice system. For many, legal consequences for the activists are part of the sense of justice. “If we had a sane judiciary, you would all end up in jail,” wrote a user on Twitter. “This is how the judiciary must react,” another with a view to the Netherlands. A court there sentenced three activists to two months in prison after they glued themselves to a Vermeer painting and smeared it with tomato sauce. Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann believes that this is also possible in Germany. “Anyone who damages other people’s property, erects roadblocks and blocks escape routes” could be liable to prosecution, he warns. The activists could also end up behind bars in Germany.
However, it is not quite that simple, says the Vice President of the Federal Bar Association, Ulrike Paul, to ntv.de. The specialist lawyer for criminal law even considers it rather unlikely that climate activists will end up in prison in Germany. Because even if the pressure from society and politics is immense – there are also limits for public prosecutors and judges when interpreting laws. The activists would therefore have to commit a criminal offense that carries a prison sentence.
This seems most obvious with the road blockades. For months, members of the “Last Generation” have glued themselves to the tarmac of busy streets and highways, causing miles of traffic jams. According to the Berlin fire brigade, this had devastating consequences on Monday. An emergency vehicle was only able to reach the mentioned accident with the cyclist with a delay. The 44-year-old was run over by a concrete mixer weighing several tons and was trapped under the vehicle. Because the fire brigade’s rescue vehicle, which was built to move heavy vehicles, was stuck in a traffic jam, they had to be freed in some other way.
With their sticking action, the activists could have made themselves liable to prosecution for negligent bodily harm, said Buschmann shortly after the incident. They were finally reported because of the obstruction of rescue workers and a dangerous intervention in road traffic. The latter could even mean five years in prison.
“But only if the activists’ action was causal,” emphasizes criminal law expert Paul. That means: The cyclist should not have been life-threateningly injured by anything else, and the emergency vehicle should not have been blocked by anything else. The cause must undoubtedly be the glued hands. This makes detection more difficult. Because “it wasn’t the activist group that rolled over the woman, but the cement mixer.” It would be possible to prove that death occurred because the woman was brought to the clinic late, explains Paul. “However, it could also be that the emergency vehicle was blocked because there was no rescue lane.” The fire brigade has already admitted that this is a common problem on the Berlin city highway. At the same time, Jakob Beyer from the “Last Generation” emphasized that he should always make sure that his actions form a rescue lane. So the causality hangs by a thread. “That will be the biggest problem with an indictment or even a conviction in the reported criminal offenses of assault.”
Of course, the authorities can still frame the activists for coercion, Paul continues. With their unannounced sit-ins without any great alternatives, the activists are forcing drivers to stop. However, according to the lawyer, an activist who has not previously been convicted hardly receives more than 20 to 30 daily rates of fines, let alone imprisonment. “That’s maybe a month’s salary, but it won’t deter the group from continuing.”
The situation is similar with criminal liability for other actions of the “last generation”. What began a few months ago on the streets of Germany has been going on for a few weeks in the country’s museums and political institutions: in Potsdam’s Barberini Museum, they smeared a valuable Monet painting – protected by a pane of glass – with mashed potatoes, in the Natural History Museum they taped themselves to the mount of a 66-million-year-old dinosaur skeleton. “One could think about damage to property of objects of art or science that is harmful to the community,” Paul assesses the incidents. “However, neither the painting nor the skeleton was damaged.” This would at best result in criminal liability for attempted damage to property. Trespassing is also out of the question – after all, the activists got into the museums legally as visitors.
“The law does not currently allow for high penalties for these actions by the activists,” summarizes Paul. This also applies to disruptive actions in the Ministry of Finance and willful fire alarms in the Bundestag.
In principle, this is exactly what criminal law wants. It is not intended to depict every misconduct, but is considered the last resort. Because penalties always mean cuts in property or freedom, all other options should first be exhausted to get rid of the problem. That also applies to the actions of the “last generation,” explains Paul. “There are many hurdles under criminal law, but the museums and the state can very well take civil action against the activists.” So the activists could face high claims for damages – for example for the frame of the Monet painting or unnecessary deployments of the fire brigade and emergency services.
“However, we have seen that this does not reduce the motivation of the activists or the pressure from the public,” Paul continues. The criminal lawyer can therefore very well imagine “that the legislature will react quickly and adapt the laws”. These could be adapted more specifically to the actions of climate activists in the future. The “last generation” would then have to reckon with harsher penalties.