With their sticking actions, the activists of the Last Generation have caused a stir in recent months. © ODD ANDERSEN/DPA
The crackdown on climate activists of the last generation has attracted nationwide attention. And Maiken Winter was completely shocked. The Raistinger has long sympathized with the group, to which her brother also belongs – and denounces the treatment of climate protectors.
Raisting – "I'm stunned": Maiken Winter is quite upset when the local newspaper reaches her yesterday at noon. The news about the raids on members of the Last Generation in Germany and the actions of the police shocked them. "It's frightening that this is possible in a state governed by the rule of law," says the Raistinger resident, whose brother has been active in the Last Generation for a long time – and who also sympathizes with the activists herself.
Once, Winter himself took part in a blockade. Three weeks ago in Berlin, near the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. It was a solidarity action by church representatives – as the wife of a pastor, she feels she belongs to this group. "A peaceful blockade," she says. Winter, who sits in the district council for the ÖDP, had refrained from sticking.
Winter: "It is criminal to call the last generation criminal"
The Raistinger cannot understand that it is being checked whether the Last Generation is a criminal organization. "It's criminal to call the last generation criminal," says Winter. "Criminal activity presupposes that one pursues selfish interests and is prepared to use violence for these interests." The climate activists she knows are "loving people who unselfishly put their lives, their studies, their profession at risk and stand up for all of our lives" – in order to avert the climate catastrophe.
In the meantime, this text appeared on the homepage of the Last Generation. Later it was changed. So far, there has been no verdict that the Last Generation is a criminal organization. © Screenshot of the homepage of the Last Generation
That would actually be the task of politics, says Winter. "The federal government is breaking the constitution by not making the protection of people from a climate catastrophe a top priority," she says. "The lack of urgency that is being given to climate protection is insane." Instead of initiating house searches of climate activists, it would be appropriate to investigate the extent to which politicians allow themselves to be influenced by lobbyists.
Winter is shocked by the massive crackdown on the Last Generation. On the one hand, there is the confiscation of the homepage. The Bavarian State Office of Criminal Investigation and the Munich Public Prosecutor's Office had shut down the website and instead displayed a text that spoke of a "criminal organization". However, so far there has been no verdict that confirms this assessment. After much criticism, the Prosecutor General's Office had the text changed during the day.
Maiken Winter herself recently took part in a campaign of the Last Generation in Berlin. But it didn't stick to it. © ANDREAS MAYR
On the other hand, Winter criticizes the house searches. The Raistinger can put herself in the shoes of those affected. In December, police officers had entered the rooms of her brother – who was not affected on Wednesday – in the mother's house. House searches are "terrible. This is an invasion of privacy that has a long-lasting effect." And an approach that, in their eyes, is completely exaggerated by climate activists.
In solidarity with climate activists: Protest march in front of the Old Town Hall in Munich
But Winter takes a small hope with him from yesterday, Wednesday: namely, that many people also feel that the approach is wrong and support the last generation. "It's time to take a stand. You have to ask yourself: Do you like the way climate activists are treated – or not?"
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Winter's answer to this question is clear. And she wants to make that clear today, Thursday, May 25. At 19 p.m., a protest march will start in front of the Old Town Hall in Munich. Maiken Winter will be right in the middle of it – and hopes for many others to show solidarity. Police and authorities must now see "that they achieve the opposite with such actions".
The local newspapers in the district of Weilheim-Schongau are represented under "merkur_wm_sog" on Instagram.