Climate protection activists have daubed a memorial to the Basic Law not far from the Bundestag, drawing cross-party criticism. The Last Generation group announced that several of their supporters had “soaked the glass sculpture “Basic Law 49” in front of the Jakob Kaiser House “in oil”.
A spokesman for the Berlin police said that the memorial had been daubed or poured over – with what is not yet clear. The police took samples of the liquid, which would be sent for analysis. The activists also stuck posters on the glass surfaces of the memorial, including the words “Oil or fundamental rights?”
criminal investigations initiated
The glass sculpture “Basic Law 49” on the Spree promenade includes 19 panes of glass, each around three meters high. The 19 fundamental rights articles of the Basic Law are laser-engraved into it.
Bundestag President Bärbel Bas wrote on Twitter that she was “shocked” that the activists of the last generation had smeared the work of art on the Basic Law. “It stands as a reminder to respect our fundamental rights, including freedom of expression and assembly, on which they themselves base themselves.”
According to the spokesman, the police had been alerted in the morning. The operation lasted until noon. The emergency services discovered six activists from the Last Generation group on the glass sculpture, whose personal details were recorded. All received a place reference, as a police spokesman said. Several Berlin media had previously reported about it. Various criminal investigations were initiated, including for damage to property and violation of the Freedom of Assembly Act.
Last generation: “The government is not fulfilling its duty”
In a video published on Twitter, the climate protesters can be seen pouring a dark liquid from 10-liter buckets onto the glass walls of the monument. The protest of the climate protection activists was directed against the federal government: “We continue to race towards the 1.5-degree mark, behind which the tipping points of the climate are lurking: The Arctic is melting. The Gulf Stream is coming to a standstill. The Amazon rainforest is dying”, criticize the climate protection activists. “The government has a constitutional duty to protect our livelihoods and freedoms. The government is failing in its duty.”
Tweet Last generation
Criticism from politics: “No understanding at all”
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) condemned the action and called for criminal consequences. “There is no justification for smearing fundamental rights of all things – and that too in the Bundestag, the heart of our democracy,” Faeser told the “Bild am Sonntag”. “It shows that these people only have chaos in mind. This completely unworthy action must now be prosecuted.”
The climate crisis can only be fought democratically, said Faeser. “This requires support in our society. That’s why such nonsense does enormous damage to climate protection.”
Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP) also criticized the action. “The Basic Law stands for freedom, democracy and the rule of law. That should never be dragged in the dirt for nothing!” he wrote on Twitter. Even sharper tones came from the deputy chairman of the FDP parliamentary group, Konstantin Kuhle. “If this rate of radicalization continues, sooner or later the last generation will have to be observed by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.” The climate movement as a whole must distance itself “from such extremist tendencies”. The attack on the Basic Law sculpture shows “open contempt for the institutions”.
The domestic policy spokesman for the Union faction in the Bundestag, Alexander Throm (CDU), announced that the climate activists did not believe in law and order, they had shown for a long time. “Now they have also made it clear that they disregard our Basic Law. The federal government must finally act here and tighten the penalties for these crimes.”
The last generation group was formed after a climate hunger strike in Berlin and is calling for more measures to protect the climate. Since the beginning of 2022, it has been blocking motorway exits and other roads in many cities, with Berlin being a focal point.
