German police conducted a series of coordinated raids on Wednesday, targeting several properties linked to the climate activist group Letzte Generation, whose name translates to Last Generation and whose members have made a minor habit of glueing themselves to roads, conveniently scheduling traffic jams for cities that were already fairly good at hosting them unprompted.
The raids took place across multiple German states, including Bavaria, Berlin and Hamburg, focusing on seven individuals suspected of forming or supporting a criminal organization. It seems that nothing says environmental concern quite like becoming the subject of a police investigation involving laptops, bank accounts and the sort of expressions usually reserved for tax raids and ill-conceived startup fundraisers.
Authorities say the group allegedly attempted to raise funds to finance further criminal acts, and possibly even tried to disrupt the operations of an oil pipeline, which in Germany is arguably the equivalent of scribbling in pen on a particularly stern-looking engineering diagram.
Letzte Generation, known for their hands-on approach to activism that often involves sitting in traffic with more resolve than a Bavarian commuter, have drawn attention across the country with their stunts, including dousing priceless art in museums with mashed potatoes and spray-painting government buildings. Whether the mashed potatoes were organic remains unconfirmed.
In Wednesday’s round of law enforcement excitement, homes and properties connected to the group were searched for evidence of activities that go beyond peaceful protest and veer slightly into “we have a manifesto and a VPN” territory. The searches were part of an ongoing probe ordered by the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office, who presumably had more pressing things to do but could not ignore people trying to defund fossil fuels by Venmo.
The group, entirely unfazed and perhaps even flattered by the police attention, immediately took to social media to decry the raids as authoritarian overreach, suggesting that Germany’s democratic nerves may be more brittle than anticipated when confronted with a little performative road glue.
Meanwhile, politicians are divided, with some praising the crackdown as the rightful defense of the rule of law against eco-radicals and others warning that trying to criminalize climate protest might just make it trendier than ever among disaffected 20-somethings with loud opinions and louder bicycles.
So while the police seek evidence, suspects await charges and pipelines breathe a cautious sigh of relief, Germany continues to wrestle with a climate movement that insists on being inconvenient in both metaphor and literal traffic.
Turns out the last generation really just wants to be first in line for court.