Criminal charges against highway blockers: Buschmann does not rule out prison sentences for climate activists
Created: 03/11/2022 05:04
By: Stefanie Fischhaber, Kai Hartwig
The Berlin fire brigade arrives late at the scene of an accident where a seriously injured person needs help.
Reason: A traffic jam because of a climate protest.
The news ticker.
Traffic jam
on the
A100
in
Berlin
: Because of a
climate protest action , emergency vehicles only made it to a serious accident between a
cyclist
and a
concrete mixer
on Monday with a delay
.
Police
file criminal
charges
against
highway blockers
: activists are "deeply affected".
Justice Minister Buschmann
comments after the accident:
prison sentences
for climate activists are not excluded.
This
news ticker
about the concrete mixer accident in Berlin is updated regularly.
Update from November 2, 10:30 p.m .:
After emergency services apparently arrived late at the scene of an accident in Berlin due to a climate protest, Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP) now comments on the incident.
Minister of Justice Buschmann comments after the accident in Berlin: prison sentences are not excluded
He thinks prison sentences are possible for certain forms of protest by climate activists.
Anyone who endangers the life and limb of other people is crossing the line of acceptable protest.
The Minister of Justice speaks of “forms of protest, some of which reach into criminality”.
Anyone who damages someone else's property is liable to prosecution for property damage.
Anyone who sets up road blockades may be liable to prosecution for obstructing rescue workers and for coercion.
And anyone who blocks rescue routes or ambulances could be guilty of negligent bodily harm, according to Buschmann.
CDU General Secretary Mario Czaja also speaks up and writes on Twitter that the rule of law must "take action against the criminals of the last generation." He suggests putting "blockers" in "connected custody" for several days.
Accident in Berlin: the condition of the cyclist remains critical
Update from November 2, 8:21 a.m
.: The condition of the injured cyclist (44) is still critical, reports the dpa news agency.
The condition of the seriously injured was unchanged, said a police spokeswoman on Wednesday morning.
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Berlin.jpg © Paul Zinken/dpa
The cyclist was run over by a concrete mixer truck on Monday morning (October 31) in Berlin-Wilmersdorf and was trapped under the car.
Fire brigade forces with special equipment were stuck in traffic due to protests by climate demonstrators on the A100 city motorway and only arrived late at the scene of the accident, which is why the accident site had to be improvised, as the fire brigade emphasized.
The woman was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Criminal charges against highway blockers: climate activists comment on late helpers - "deeply affected"
Update from November 2, 6.49 a.m
.: After an accident with a concrete mixer in which a cyclist (44) was critically injured, emergency services with special equipment were stuck in traffic.
The traffic jam was caused by climate activists from the Last Generation group.
“We are deeply saddened that this accident happened.
Protecting the lives of all people is our greatest concern.
That's why we sincerely hope that the delay did not lead to a deterioration in the woman's health," a last-generation activist told the
Tagesspiegel
.
Some demonstrators could always form a rescue lane, were "not stuck", emphasizes the activist in a statement.
They could "stand up anytime" to let emergency vehicles through.
In Berlin, according to the Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD), there have been problems for ambulances in 18 cases due to road blockades.
The reports the rbb.
Road blockades have increased since February, Giffey said.
More than 130,000 police hours have been spent.
729 procedures have been initiated at the Berlin public prosecutor's office.
241 penal orders had been requested.
The police have made 1,900 criminal charges.
Whether the road blockades were partly to blame for the fact that the rescue vehicles arrived late or not after the accident on Monday (October 31), the police and the court would have to clarify, Giffey said on rbb.
Climate activists react: "The incident in Berlin makes me very sad."
Update from November 1, 10:10 p.m .:
After the serious traffic accident in Berlin on Monday (November 1), climate activist Luisa Neubauer expressed her regret at the late arrival of an emergency vehicle in connection with climate protests.
"Across the German climate movement, we stand for climate activism that does not endanger people," Neubauer told the German Press Agency on Tuesday.
"The incident in Berlin makes me very sad." The legitimacy of protest actions stands and falls with "that people are not put in danger," emphasized the activist from the organization Fridays for Future.
Dangerous situations such as the formation of a rescue lane would be planned for all actions of her organization, she explained.
Accident with cement mixer: Unknown attacked driver with a knife
Update from November 1, 2:10 p.m .:
After the serious concrete mixer accident, in which, according to the fire department, there were delays in the rescue due to a blockade by climate activists, the police are investigating two of the blockers.
A spokesman for the German Press Agency said on Tuesday that a 63-year-old and a 59-year-old were being investigated for failure to provide assistance or for the disability of persons providing assistance.
The Berliner Zeitung
had previously
reported on the investigation.
According to the spokesman, the activists are said to have stuck themselves to a sign bridge on the A100.
The scene of the accident in Berlin: the concrete mixer can be seen on the right, under which a cyclist fell.
© Paul Zinken/dpa
Update from November 1, 11:30 a.m.:
The
Berlin police are still looking for the man who attacked a cement mixer driver after an accident with a knife and seriously injured him.
The attacker is not yet known, said a police spokeswoman on Tuesday morning.
The investigation into the attack on Monday morning and the course of the accident continued, said the police spokeswoman.
The attack on the driver happened after a cyclist was trapped under the concrete mixer on the Bundesallee in Berlin-Wilmersdorf on Monday and suffered life-threatening injuries.
While rescue workers were taking care of the woman, a man not involved in the accident is said to have approached the truck driver when he was standing next to the driver's cab and suddenly attacked him with a knife.
The driver was taken to a hospital with a stab wound, where he was hospitalized.
The police were initially unable to provide any new information on Tuesday about the state of health of the injured.
On Monday it was said that the 64-year-old driver of the concrete mixer was seriously injured in the attack.
There was also no new information on the condition of the 44-year-old cyclist.
Traffic jam caused by climate activists: ambulance comes late to the accident victim
First report from October 31:
Berlin – Working to combat climate change is fundamentally an honorable goal.
Climate activists choose different means to make their demands known to politics and society.
Recently, groups with particularly radical actions drew attention to themselves, which was often viewed critically.
In Munich there has been a lot of trouble over the past few days about actions by "Scientist Rebellion".
Climate activists from this group glued themselves to a luxury car in BMW Welt and on the street at Odeonsplatz.
Members of "Scientist Rebellion" were also involved in the destruction of the BlackRock building on Lenbachplatz.
Protest by climate activists causes traffic jams - ambulance can't get through to the accident victim
The “Last Generation” alliance has already made a name for itself with similar protest actions.
Recently, climate activists from the group threw mashed potatoes at a valuable Monet painting.
Now there was great criticism of the climate activists in connection with an accident in Berlin.
There, a woman who was on her bike was hit by a concrete mixer truck and critically injured.
An action by climate activists then ensured that the rescue operation did not go according to plan.
Some members of the Last Generation Alliance had blocked a road nearby.
As a result of the action, there was a traffic jam on the A100, which the Berlin fire brigade also encountered on the way to the scene of the accident.
As a result, the fire brigade was only able to get through to the injured cyclist with their emergency vehicle.
The cyclist was trapped under the concrete mixer in the accident.
A rescue vehicle was supposed to lift the truck and free the accident victim, but he got stuck in a traffic jam.
Police and fire brigade sharply criticize climate activists - "Has nothing to do with climate protection anymore"
"By now, at the latest, one should say goodbye to the fairy tale of harmless protests," said Benjamin Jendro, spokesman for the Berlin police union: "Anyone who blocks traffic routes (...) also consciously accepts that people in need are longer dependent on help from the police and Fire brigade have to wait.” Union Vice President Boris Biedermann added: “That has nothing to do with climate protection anymore.”
The fire brigade also gave vent to their anger at the climate activists.
"In such a situation, seeing a woman seriously injured under a cement mixer and not being able to help because an ambulance is stuck in a traffic jam that was caused by one arbitrarily, that can really get to the substance," said Rolf Erbe, spokesman for the Berliner Fire brigade, compared to
Focus.de
.
Again and again there are street blockades by climate activists from the group "Last Generation" (here in June 2022 in Berlin).
© Paul Zinken/dpa
Climate activists from the group "Last Generation" are "dismayed" - but want to continue actions
A statement on the incident has since been released by the Last Generation group.
"It cannot be ruled out that the rescue vehicle's delay is due to a traffic jam caused by us," it said.
And further: "We are dismayed that a cyclist was injured by a truck.
We sincerely hope that the delay has not aggravated her health."
During the "road blockades" one pays careful attention to the observance of rescue lanes".
Apparently this didn't work in Berlin.
And according to fire department spokesman Erbe, this precautionary measure by climate activists makes little sense.
"This is of no use if the rescue vehicles are stuck in a traffic jam just a hundred meters from the blockade," he explained to
Focus.de
.
"Nothing works anymore because there are no rescue lanes that the emergency vehicles could use." Berlin's Senator for the Interior, Iris Spranger, told
rbb
that the judiciary had to clarify whether the climate activists were to blame.
"It is different with the moral question," added the politician: "There is no justification for endangering the lives of others."
Despite the tragic incident, the "Last Generation" does not want to stop their actions at first.
"As soon as the government takes the first security measures against the impending climate collapse, we will immediately stop all protest actions," the climate activists said.
(kh)
