Activists strange runway glue protest disrupts dozens of flights

Climate activists in Germany blocked plane traffic at two airports on Thursday by gluing themselves to the runways in protest against mass transit pollution, causing hours of delays and dozens of cancelations. 

“The Last Generation isn’t protecting the climate, they’re engaged in criminal activity,” Transport Minister Volker Wissing said. 

Last Generation, the group behind the protest, demanded tougher government action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and immediate plans to cut emissions in the transportation sector, accusing officials of lacking a strategy to tackle climate crisis. 

“Instead of presenting a concrete plan to prevent this and to reach the emissions-reduction target called for by law, the Transport Ministry is relying on ‘technological flexibility,'” the group wrote in a statement.

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Police officers and security personnel stand on the airfield and try to detach activists of the group Last Generation who have stuck themselves to the asphalt in the airport area, in Duesseldorf, Germany, Thursday, July 13, 2023. (David Young/dpa via AP)

A federal police spokesperson said Hamburg Airport had suspended flights at around 6 a.m. after nine unauthorized people entered the airfield and eight of them had glued themselves to the tarmac. 

Seven people entered the airfield at Düsseldorf Airport, with all of them succeeding in gluing themselves to the runway, but after several hours authorities had unstuck half of the protesters. 

Hamburg overall delayed, canceled or diverted 46 flights, German outlet DW reported. The protest occurred as the first day of school summer vacations began in the city. 

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Travelers wait during a blockade of a tarmac by climate activists in the terminal of Hamburg Airport, Germany, Thursday July 13, 2023. (Bodo Marks/dpa via AP)

The activists will face charges of disturbing the peace, coercive behavior and dangerous interference with aviation, the police said. 

Transport Minister Wissing and Justice Minister Marco Buschmann accused the protesters of dividing society by “ruining the well-earned and long-looked-forward-to annual vacations of others.”

Wissing has blocked several proposals to cut emissions from air and road travel in recent years, according to The Associated Press. 

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A police officer unglues a hand of a Climate Change activist of “Letzte Generation” (Last Generation) as the protesters glued themselves to streets to protest against the German Industry Day, hosted by the BDI (Federation of German Industries) industry association, in Berlin June 19, 2023. (Reuters/Nadja Wohlleben/File Photo)

Last Generation insists its protests are peaceful, albeit disruptive, though motorists facing delays when the group blocks roads have at times attacked the activists.

German prosecutors raided the homes of several of the group’s members in May on suspicion of forming or supporting a criminal organization.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.