Status: 20/09/2023, 14:14 p.m.
By: Sina Alonso Garcia
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Until recently, a young police officer from Baden-Württemberg was committed to the "Last Generation". Now the matter became too delicate for him.
Stuttgart - He has never glued himself to the street or protested publicly. And yet, until recently, a policeman from Baden-Württemberg was a member of the "Last Generation". In secret, he worked for the climate activists – quite unusual in view of the current tense situation between the police and "climate gluers".
"I did data maintenance, sorted contacts and things like that, wrote letters," says the young man, who prefers to remain anonymous, the SWR. Becoming active in road blockades is not his personal style. Nevertheless, he has "great respect for the people who do this thing to themselves."
As a police officer in the "Last Generation": Membership out of conviction
How do you get to the "last generation" as a police officer? The police officer and ex-climate activist told SWR: "I was fascinated by the fact that the climate activists get so much media attention." For him, one thing is certain: "We need more climate protection." The aim is to ring the alarm bell and draw attention to the "inexorably approaching" climate crisis.
At the same time a policeman and a member of the "Last Generation"? The head of the German police union considers this combination to be out of the question. (Symbolic photo) © IMAGO/dts News Agency
In the meantime, the matter was apparently too delicate for the policeman. For example, he is no longer active in the "Last Generation". As he explains, he fears professional disadvantages if his supervisor gets wind of the membership. A statement by Ralf Kusterer, the head of the German Police Union (DPolG), is also said to have led to the young man withdrawing from activism. For example, Kusterer recently said that the police profession is incompatible with belonging to the "last generation".
The head of the police union finds clear words: "Contradiction that is not compatible"
As Kusterer told SWR, membership in the "Last Generation" was "a contradiction" for a police officer who "does not get along". "To put it mildly, there are 100,000 ways to get involved in climate action. You don't have to go to the last generation to do that," says Kusterer. For him, it is "an organization that the Office for the Protection of the Constitution should take a look at."
The fact that the situation between climate activists and police is currently tense has recently been shown by several examples in the southwest. For example, a police officer in Mannheim recently doused activists with cooking oil. In addition, climate activists in Mannheim also made serious accusations against the officials: they had "humiliated" them "naked" in a cell.