Police in the German city of Mainz had to use a jackhammer to move a climate activist who had glued himself to a busy street on Friday. Three of his accomplices were removed with less effort, after their stunt caused major traffic jams.
Six members of a group calling itself Letzte Generation (Last Generation) sat down on Mainz’s Binger Street on Friday morning, with four of the group gluing their hands to the asphalt, Germany’s SWR broadcaster reported. As traffic into the city built up behind them, they held a banner demanding a lower speed limit and subsidized public transit tickets.
Police were called to the scene and managed to free three of the superglued demonstrators immediately. However, the fourth had fixed his hand to the road with a mixture of glue and sand, and officers had to pry up the surrounding asphalt and remove it with a jackhammer.
Photos posted by the group afterwards showed the activist’s hand still glued to a square of asphalt.
SWR noted that the hole in the road was immediately repaired, but officers are weighing unlawful assembly and property damage charges. According to news magazine Stern, the protest and resulting traffic jam left two politicians late for a meeting of the state parliament.
Letzte Generation is a sister group of Just Stop Oil, whose members have gained notoriety by defacing artworks and blocking traffic in the UK in recent months. Both organizations are financed by the Climate Emergency Fund, a foundation started by billionaire oil heiress Aileen Getty and run by Trevor Neilson, an investor with ties to Bill Gates and George Soros.
Members of Letzte Generation also stuck themselves to the tarmac at Munich Airport on Thursday, while another group entered a restricted area at Berlin’s Brandenburg Airport.