Koblenz: Cases against climate activists discontinued – what now?

Koblenz: Cases against climate activists discontinued – what now?

The Koblenz district court has discontinued criminal proceedings against four activists from the controversial climate group “Last Generation”. This decision caused a stir and can be seen as another milestone in the discourse on civil disobedience. The affected activists stuck themselves on Friedrich-Ebert-Ring during the morning rush hour in July 2023, severely disrupting traffic flow. Nevertheless, the blockade actually caused only lasted about 17 minutes, as a video >SWR< shows.

Ahead of the court proceedings, a fine was imposed on the five activists, against which four lodged objections. They saw their sit-in as a necessary signal for more climate protection and, under the pressure of climate change, said that they could not stand idly by. A 54-year-old activist reiterated that it was important to her to support the young generation who are committed to climate protection. They always remained aware of their responsibility for the legal consequences of their actions.

Civic engagement or coercion?

The police classified the action as coercion because the activists restricted the rights of other road users in their actions. Civil disobedience, as practiced by the “Last Generation,” functions as a means of pointing out impending dangers. Reasons for such forms of protest have been discussed in society for some time. Historical parallels are drawn to the road blockades by peace activists in the 1980s. Whether such actions actually achieve the desired goal of raising awareness of climate protection is controversial >bpb.

An activist from the “Last Generation” is now going to the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe after being convicted of a similar road blockade in Berlin. She receives support from the legal aid association “Backing for an Active Civil Society”. Like the Koblenz activists, she argues that punishing such blockades disproportionately restricts the basic rights to freedom of demonstration >RBB.

The debate about civil disobedience

The discussion about the forms of protest of the “last generation” is emotional and polarized. Civil disobedience is understood as an act of refusal that breaks existing laws, but with the aim of legitimizing a higher morality. Critics fear that such protests could violate the principles of constitutional civil disobedience. The question remains whether this form of protest actually finds the desired social acceptance or whether it fails to have the desired effect.

It is clear that the activities of the “Last Generation” will continue to drive the debate about climate protection and how to deal with civil disobedience in the future. How will society react to these forms of protest, which are often perceived as radical and disproportionate? One thing is certain: the young activists face an enormous challenge in getting their messages across to the public while at the same time accepting the legal consequences of their actions.