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Protest by the Last Generation group in Berlin: Several hundred streets blocked
Photo: FABRIZIO BENSCH / REUTERS
In view of the blockade actions by climate activists, CDU General Secretary Mario Czaja has called for tough action by the security authorities.
"Just like hooligans, blockers should be taken into preventive custody consistently and for as long as possible before actions are announced," Czaja told the "Welt am Sonntag" ("WamS").
The newspaper, citing its own research, reported that activists from the group "Last Generation" had already blocked several hundred roads nationwide this year.
Some of the activists got stuck and recently even concreted their hands in Berlin.
According to “WamS”, Berlin registered 149 blockades, Hesse 34, Baden-Württemberg 17, Bavaria eight, Saxony five, Brandenburg four, North Rhine-Westphalia and Bremen three.
Hamburg has registered 213 "actions" by the group, which, however, also include meetings.
In Berlin alone, 310 men and women were taken into custody and 67 criminal proceedings initiated.
Last week, "the last generation" announced that they would let their roadblocks rest over the summer.
For the fall, the group announced campaigns again.
A spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior told the "WamS" that the department took the announcement of new campaigns in the fall very seriously.
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution is also observing a growing influence of left-wing extremists on the climate movement.
"Left-wing extremists from different parts of the scene are trying to shift democratic discourses, supplement them with their own ideological positions, radicalize social protest and delegitimize the state and its institutions," said the spokesman for the newspaper.
Violent left-wing extremists are also using action alliances to influence the protests.
pbe/AFP