German climate activists to stop gluing themselves to roads

German climate activists from the Letzte Generation or the Last Generation group will no longer glue themselves to roads, the group said in a statement on Monday. The group will now use the tactic of organizing "disobedient assemblies."

"From now on we will protest in a different form, but it will remain impossible to ignore. From March, we will be calling for disobedient gatherings across the country. Instead of splitting up into small groups and holding street blockades, we will organize disobedient assemblies involving many people," said the statement. 

The group said they will continue protesting at oil pipelines, coal mines and airports. It will also "increasingly visit places of fossil destruction for our protest."

The activists added they wanted to "increasingly confront those responsible for climate destruction directly in future" and "confront politicians and other decision-makers publicly and in front of running cameras."

Last Generation's protest methods

The Last Generation activists started gluing themselves as a protest method in January 2022, thus blocking roads and bringing traffic to a standstill in cities such as Berlin and Hamburg.

They have also glued themselves to the tarmac at the airports in Berlin, Hamburg and Düsseldorf, causing a suspension of airport traffic.

The Last Generation also uses other protest methods such as spraying the Brandenburg Gate with orange paint, among other things. High-profile protests have also taken place in museums, stadiums and government ministries. 

The Berlin police recorded around 550 such protests last year.

Their protest methods have been widely criticized with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz once calling them "completely nutty."

tg/jsi (dpa, AFP)

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