German police conduct nationwide raids against climate activists

By Chris Stern and Radina Gigova, CNN

(CNN) — German investigators have launched a nationwide raid against members of the Last Generation climate activist group, the Munich State Prosecutor’s Office said Wednesday.

A total of 15 properties in seven German states have been searched as part of the raids conducted on behalf of the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office (LKA) and the Munich General Public Prosecutor’s Office, authorities said.

Four searches took place in Berlin, three in Bavaria and three in Hesse. There were further actions in Hamburg, Magdeburg, Dresden, and Schleswig-Holstein, authorities said.

The Prosecutor General’s Office in Munich said it had initiated a preliminary investigation “due to numerous criminal complaints from the population” against a total of seven defendants aged 22 to 38 years, “on the charge of forming or supporting a criminal organization.” The notifications had been received since the middle of 2022.

Specifically, the defendants are accused of organizing a fundraising campaign to finance “further crimes” for Last Generation, advertising it on its website and collecting at least 1.4 million Euros ($1.5 million) in donations.

Two defendants are also suspected of having attempted to sabotage the Trieste-Ingolstadt oil pipeline in April 2022, according to the LKA.

Activists with Last Generation have been blocking roads across Germany for about a year by gluing themselves to streets. Other campaigns have targeted art works. The climate protection organization says that its protests are exclusively non-violent.

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