At the weekend, the “Spiegel” reported that the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution is examining an observation of the climate protection movement Last Generation – now the head of the domestic intelligence service, Thomas Haldenwang, makes it clear that the authorities do not currently judge the group to be extremist or anti-constitutional. “Currently, the Federal and State Office for the Protection of the Constitution does not see sufficient evidence to assess the climate movement Last Generation as extremist,” says Haldenwang in an interview with the editorial network Germany on Wednesday.
Although the last generation sometimes commit crimes, this does not change the assessment. However, he will keep an eye on the group. “The Office for the Protection of the Constitution takes a close look every day at how the situation is developing,” emphasized Haldenwang.
In principle, however, his authority does not give any information about any “test cases”. At this stage of observation, only publicly accessible sources are used; in the event of a “suspected case”, the use of secret service methods is also permitted. In the third stage, the “observation cases”, the suspicion of extremist or anti-constitutional efforts has been confirmed. The Cologne administrative court had forbidden the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution to publicly describe the AfD as a “test case”.
The forms of action of the last generation have been stirring things up regularly for months. The group has become known above all through regular road blockades, with which they want to work towards compliance with the climate targets by the government. Isolated politicians compared the last generation with the murderer and terrorist gang Red Army Faction (at least 33 fatalities) – Haldenwang described such statements in November as “nonsense”. (Read about this in Stern: “‘Nonsense’: the head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution takes apart Dobrindt’s ‘Climate RAF’ statement”). The Last Generation claims to demonstrate non-violently.
Sources: “Spiegel”, editorial network Germany, news agencies DPA and AFP
