On the march: Just Stop Oil protesters march in London. Credit : Loredana Sanguiliano / Shutterstock
Coordination between climate action groups resulted in five protests around Europe’s airports on July 23.
Before sunrise outside Germany’s Cologne-Bonn Airport, five climate activists cut a hole in the airport’s perimeter fence and snuck onto the runway of one of Europe’s busiest airports. Using a mixture of glue and sand, five activists stuck themselves to the runway, causing cancellations and delays before German police reported removing two of the protestors by 8:30 a.m.
This is a familiar tactic for the German activist group, which carried out a similar protest last year.
German government crackdown
That group, founded in Germany and known as Last Generation, has been at the centre of an ongoing debate in Germany revolving around the rights of groups to protest versus the rights of the state to break up their protests or prevent them.
Last May, 170 German police officers took part in raids on several homes of Last Generation organisers and members, shutting down websites and freezing bank accounts belonging to the group.
Olaf Scholz, the German Chancellor, spoke on the protests in May 2023, saying that the protests were “completely nutty to somehow stick yourself to a painting or on the street.” While the protests certainly draw the ire of aviation passengers or drivers who find their roads blocked, Last Generation member Theo Scharr feels that the protests and their government’s reaction have only helped their cause.
“From the middle of May to the beginning of June, hundreds of people were part of street blockades as well as protest marches.” Said Scharr “Also, there has been a huge outcry of solidarity after the police of Bavaria executed search warrants in some protesters’ homes, which a big part of our society found illegitimate.”
Just Stop Oil at Gatwick
Last Generation did not act alone on Wednesday, as another group, Just Stop Oil, launched a protest at London’s Gatwick Airport. The protests saw seven people arrested at two different locations on the perimeter of Gatwick Airport; however, the group promised in a statement that this is “just the beginning” of a summer of nonviolent protests.
What do these groups want?
A common thread between the goals of Just Stop Oil and Last Generation is the centrality of fossil fuel emissions to climate change. Transportation makes up a considerable portion of Britain and Germany’s emissions, so the groups have targeted this sector primarily to put pressure on their governments to address their dependency on fossil fuels.
Just Stop Oil has made very public their demand that governments completely stop the use of oil and other fossil fuels by 2030. The following is posted on the group’s website.
“Just Stop Oil will be acting with other groups internationally, taking action at sites of key importance to the fossil fuel economy, in order to demand our governments commit to a legally binding international treaty to end the extraction and burning of oil gas and coal by 2030.”
