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Flights cancelled at German airports after climate activists glue themselves to runways
Passengers at Hamburg and Dusseldorf faced long waits as protesters pleaded with government to stop 'throwing oil on the fire'
Climate activists glued themselves to runways in major German airports on Thursday, forcing the cancellation of dozens of flights.
Air traffic was stopped completely at Hamburg Airport after protesters from the Last Generation group broke through a security fence and glued their hands to the tarmac.
Activists said they were protesting the German government’s “lack of plan and their breaking of the law in the climate crisis”.
“We cannot watch any longer as our earth burns and the government continues to throw oil on the fire every day,” one of the protesters, identified as 21-year-old Regi, said in a video in which she glued her hand onto a runway.
At Hamburg Airport, three dozen flights were cancelled on Thursday morning and a further 10 were diverted to other airports.
The protest coincided with the first day of school summer holidays in Hamburg, which is Germany’s second largest city with 1.8 million inhabitants.
Some 50,000 passengers were expected to travel through the airport on Thursday. The airport warned that there would be delays throughout the day.
Flights were also cancelled in Dusseldorf after Last Generation cut through barbed wire with bolt cutters in order to gain access to the runway.
Herbert Reul, the state interior minister, condemned the protest: “Dangerous intervention in air traffic and coercion are criminal offences.”
A column in the Welt newspaper called the activists “wannabe martyrs”.
Last October, the group also blockaded Berlin-Brandenburg airport and spray painted private jets orange in May. A court is currently deciding what fines will be handed down.
In the northern city of Stralsund on Wednesday, a lorry driver had his licence taken away after driving into an activist who was sitting on the road. He is being investigated for assault.
Last Generation, which is funded by the US-based Climate Emergency Fund, are also demanding a national speed limit on Germany’s Autobahn motorways and a €9 euro (£7.6 pound) monthly train ticket across Germany.