Police on Thursday arrested climate activists who glued themselves to the tarmac at Frankfurt airport, Germany’s busiest, compelling it to temporarily suspend arrivals and departures.
Traffic was halted during the busy summer holiday season for two hours before the first of the airport’s landing runways was able to operate again at 0502 GMT, said a spokesman at the airport.
Passengers were advised to check the status of their flights while the airport ramped up its operations again.
Seven of the activists had managed to reach the runway where they glued themselves onto the tarmac, a police spokesman said. The eighth was still trying to get through the perimeter fence when he was detained.
The police operation to clear activists off the airport’s restricted grounds was ongoing, added the spokesman. All eight were arrested.
According to climate activist group “Letzte Generation” (Last Generation) which claimed the civil disobedience action, its members had used pincers to cut openings in the wire fence before making their way “by foot, with bicycles and skateboards to different points around the runways”.
A photo circulated by the group depicted a protester sitting on the tarmac with an orange banner “oil kills”.
The group is pushing for a binding international accord that would lead to an end in oil, gas and coal use by 2030.
Transport Minister Volker Wissing condemned the protests Thursday as “criminal” action and demanded tough penalties against the activists.
“The climate activists are apparently seeking to bring about maximum damage. The legislators must react with maximum severity,” he told German media, calling for prison terms of up to five years in jail for those who storm airports.
“Anyone who violently forces their way into airports, occupies runways and blocks airplanes is endangering human lives,” he said.
Thursday’s protest action came a day after similar operations across several European airports.
Activists from Letzte Generation disrupted traffic at Cologne-Bonn airport for several hours on Wednesday by glueing themselves on the tarmac.
Several climate protesters were also arrested at London’s Heathrow airport.
The protest organisers are part of the A22 Network of groups committed to non-violent climate protests, which said it was planning to disrupt airports in several countries in the coming months.
Protests were planned in Britain, Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, United States and Norway, UK-based activists from the alliance told AFP earlier in July.
Global aviation is responsible for around 2.5 percent of global carbon emissions, more than the annual carbon footprint of Brazil and France combined.
Last Generation is known for mounting eye-catching protests — from throwing mashed potatoes at paintings in museums to glueing themselves on busy roads.
Their tactics, which have proved deeply divisive, have led to some of their members being convicted.
“Instead of seeking tougher sentences, politicians should seriously take the scale of the disaster that they are themselves fuelling,” said Lisa Johnson, spokeswoman of the group.
“Prison sentences won’t shield us from heatwaves, droughts, floods and dramatically rising sea levels,” she warned.
Letzte Generation has said it would hold protests from September 25 against planned government subsidies for Kassel-Calden airport.
