By Gunnar Schupelius
Everyone is amazed at how easy it is to get to the planes. The airport management still considers the security to be sufficient. Anyone who wants to can understand that, says Gunnar Schupelius.
The runway at Berlin Airport is surrounded by a fence. This fence is easy to cut open. The climate stickers proved that in front of everyone. However, this fence is not reinforced.
Twice in five months, last-generation climate activists managed to break into the high-security area of Berlin-Brandenburg Airport (BER).
On the afternoon of November 24, 2022, four of them cut through the airport fence and stuck themselves to the runways. 15 landing approaches had to be diverted to Leipzig, Hanover and Dresden, 750 passengers were stuck in planes that were ready to take off.
On May 5, 2023, six Kleber made it through the fence. They cut it open enough to take their bikes with them. With them they cycled calmly to the private jet terminal. There they doused a small vintage plane from Denmark with paint.
In both cases, the intruders needed nothing more than standard bolt cutters (from 19.90 euros) to cut through the security fence. Apparently that was easy. They proudly posted photos of their destructive act on the Internet.
In both cases, the climate stickers were only caught by the police long after they had left the high-security area. Everyone was amazed at how easy it was to get to the machines that were taking off and landing.
The terminal is heavily secured, so nobody can get through who shouldn’t be able to. But the fence around the runway is not. How does that fit together?
What consequences were drawn from the double slump in climate stickers? We wanted to know if the airport fence will be strengthened. There are fences that cannot be cut through. Is one planned for BER?
No, that’s not the case. An airport spokesman explained to us on request: “The airport fence meets all national and international requirements”.
Demand: Was the airport management able to clarify why the fence was so easy to climb over? Answer: “The unauthorized access was analyzed together with all relevant authorities, organizations and the partners involved.” Demand: With what result? Answer: “The security measures at BER Airport meet all national and international requirements (…).” demand: Why isn’t the runway just as well protected as the terminal? Answer: “Different airport areas are subject to different security requirements.”
The spokesman pointed out to us that the climate stickers only “got onto the taxiways (access roads)” but not “in the vicinity of commercial aircraft”.
That was pure coincidence. The planes drive to the runway via the taxiways. Coincidentally, there was no plane on the taxiway where the stickers were sitting.
What to make of the answer that the airport management gives us? Why isn’t the fence reinforced?
The climate stickers have done it. What if there are completely different people climbing the fence who really mean evil? The airport is obviously not prepared for this.
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