From BZ/dpa
After the actions of climate demonstrators, the judiciary was criticized for not taking action against the activists quickly enough. There are now a number of procedures and initial processes.
After road blockades by climate activists, the Tiergarten District Court imposed penalties in 66 cases.
As requested by the public prosecutor, penal orders were issued without a hearing, as a court spokeswoman said on request. However, since an objection has already been filed in 24 proceedings, the process does take place.
The first are planned for next week on August 30th and September 1st, the spokeswoman said. A total of 114 (as of August 22, 2022) such proceedings are now before the court, it said. So far there has been no final decision.
In each case, the public prosecutor’s office had requested that fines be imposed – usually for coercion and resistance to law enforcement officials. For example, according to the court, an adolescent should pay a fine of 450 euros (30 daily rates of 15 euros each). A man who is said to have participated in three road blockades, 2,500 euros (50 daily rates of 50 euros each). The daily rates are based on the income of the person concerned, the number of daily rates depends on the severity of the offence.
Air-conditioning adhesives are removed from the asphalt with a hammer and chisel Photo: REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch
In both cases, the accused did not accept the penalty order, so the trials will take place next week. According to the “Tagesspiegel” it is a 20-year-old from Leipzig and a 59-year-old from Munich.
The “Last Generation” group repeatedly blocked motorway exits over several weeks of action and called for more measures to be taken to combat climate change. Parallel to the proceedings in the judiciary, the police are also increasingly taking action against highway blockers and issuing so-called fee notices for demonstrators. By the end of July, these had been issued in 340 cases, according to a Senate response to a CDU request.
The amount of the fee notices for detaching taped people from the streets was mostly 241 euros. After the first 60 money demands from the police for the wave of blockades in the spring, the climate protection group “Last Generation” asked for donations on the Internet. According to the website, around 16,700 euros have been received so far.