Turning activists into criminals?

The Story

After nationwide raids against a group of (alleged) monarchist plotters last week, German police swooped on the climate movement known as Letzte Generation this Tuesday.

Police raided eleven properties in the early hours and made a fairly dramatic statement today. They are not just investigating a specific crime, they are looking into whether the group itself is criminal in nature.

This would dramatically increase the state’s powers to prosecute them. Ring leaders of the organisation could then face jail terms of between six months and five years.

Letzte Generation was formed sometime at the end of last year and its activists have generally made a nuisance of themselves by glueing themselves to streets or clambering onto overhead signs above motorways.

They have also damaged famous works of art and, more recently, broken onto the runways of Berlin and Munich airports, managing to halt air traffic for a while.

Paragraph 129 of the German criminal code sets out the requirements for …