For months, activists of the “last generation” have been drawing attention to the climate emergency with protests on streets, in museums, at pipelines and airports. Now they are announcing an end to their actions – under three conditions.
The climate protection group “Last Generation” continues to offer a halt to their protests across the country if the federal government complies with their demands. “We have clearly communicated the conditions for this: the reintroduction of the 9-euro ticket, a speed limit of 100 km/h on motorways and the convening of a social council on the question of how we can achieve zero emissions by 2030,” said spokesman Jakob Beyer. “Right from the start, we made clear demands that are easy to implement, socially just and cheap.” According to him, 1,000 to 1,500 people have now joined the group’s “peaceful civil resistance”.
The background is the stop of the adhesive protests in Hanover that was promised this week. There, Mayor Belit Onay from the Greens assured the activists after a meeting that they would support their demand for a social council in a letter to the democratic parliamentary groups. According to the ideas of the climate protectors, such a council of randomly drawn people should develop measures to ensure that Germany no longer emits any climate-damaging CO2 by 2030.
Beyer explained that this would also be possible at the federal level, but this was not discussed. “And we were encouraged that the federal government either cannot or does not want to react appropriately to the crisis and protect our livelihoods.” He added: “We act under the condition that we conduct our protest in a credible and reliable manner. This also includes that we end our protest if our demands are met.”
After the locally agreed stop of the protests in Hanover, talks about corresponding agreements are also underway in other cities. Details cannot be given at the moment, said Beyer. The group, which was founded at the end of 2021, blocked motorway access in Berlin for the first time on January 24, 2022. Thereafter, with interruptions, such blockades followed almost daily, as well as protests in museums, stadiums, at oil pipelines and airports. According to the website, the name explains itself as follows: “We are the last generation that can still stop the collapse of our society.”
