Street blockades in Berlin: 73 proceedings against climate activists
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Road blockades: 73 proceedings against climate activists at the Berlin public prosecutor’s office
Berlin. To date, the Berlin public prosecutor’s office has received 73 cases relating to protest actions by climate activists. As a spokesman for the authorities said on request on Wednesday, these cases all relate to road blockades last January. Hundreds of criminal complaints are also being filed with the police. According to the public prosecutor’s office, however, a decision has not yet been made in any of the proceedings as to whether charges can be brought. The prerequisite for this is a completed investigation by the police. However, this is not the case, the police may still clarify important points.
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Margarete Koppers, Attorney General, explained to the police that she had already explained to the police in the spring what was missing in the investigation and which points required follow-up investigations. She referred to the case law of the Federal Constitutional Court on motorway blockades. “The public prosecutor’s office decides on the initial suspicion, the necessity and intensity of investigations and the maturity of the indictment, according to law and order and not according to political wishful thinking,” emphasized Koppers with a view to demands from politicians for quicker and harsher penalties.
Investigations into coercion and resistance
Berlin’s governing mayor Franziska Giffey and Interior Senator Iris Spranger (both SPD) had repeatedly criticized the protests. “I want to reiterate that there is absolutely no doubt that these are criminal offenses,” Giffey said on Tuesday. Spranger had said she expected the judiciary to file lawsuits and convictions.
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“It’s about difficult legal issues,” explained senior public prosecutor Holger Brocke, the department head responsible for the proceedings. It is important, for example: How many people took part? How long did that take? Were there any alternatives for drivers? How and when were people who were stuck stuck off the road? Especially in the early days, such details were not recorded by the police officers on site. “Your first concern is to get people off the streets.”
According to the public prosecutor’s office, the allegations are usually about coercion and resistance against law enforcement officials. In a few cases, it is also about the allegation of dangerous intervention in road traffic.
RND/dpa