German climate activists stop air traffic after breaking into four airport sites

Climate activists have broken into four German airport sites, briefly bringing air traffic to a halt at two of those before police made arrests.

Protesters from Letzte Generation – Germany’s equivalent to Just Stop Oil – gained access on Thursday to airfields in areas near the takeoff and landing strips of Cologne-Bonn, Nuremberg, Berlin Brandenburg and Stuttgart airports at dawn. Air traffic was suspended for a short time at Nuremberg and Cologne-Bonn due to police operations.

The activists cut holes in fences with bolt cutters, glued themselves to the asphalt and unfurled banners reading “Oil kills” and “Sign the treaty”, in reference to Letzte Generation’s demand that the German government negotiate and sign an agreement for an international ban on the use of oil, gas and coal by 2030.

The action was reminiscent of similar protests this summer and followed raids carried out a week ago on the homes of climate activists in five German cities, at which police collected DNA samples, in what Letzte Generation called “an attempt at intimidation”.

The interior minister, Nancy Faeser, condemned the protest and called for anyone convicted of involvement in Thursday’s action to be given prison sentences.

She wrote: “These criminal actions are dangerous and stupid. These anarchists are risking not only their own lives, but are also endangering others. We have recommended tough prison sentences. And we obligate airports to secure their facilities significantly better.”

Letzte Generation defended its protest, saying the government’s “inaction” was endangering people’s lives. “What’s dangerous is your political failure which is dragging us ever deeper into a catastrophe … we’re talking about our existence. About the lives of billions of people,” the group wrote on X.

Letzte Generation wrote on Thursday afternoon that the eight activists involved had been freed from police custody.

The government has announced its intention to tighten Germany’s aviation security law, in an attempt to deter people from gaining unauthorised access to airport compounds. The planned change would create a new regulation, according to which “intentional, unauthorised intrusion” on to the tarmac, runways and other areas would be automatically seen to pose a risk to civil aviation safety.

The airport association ADV also condemned the protests. “Today’s disruptions at several airports are a concerted act of criminal extortion. This is not a peaceful protest and it is not about supposedly higher goals,” ADV’s managing director, Ralph Beisel, said. “These are malicious interventions in air traffic and in the personal rights of every traveller who is unable to take their flight as planned.”

The protesters say they target airports because flying leaves the biggest carbon footprint of any form of travel.