A climate activist glues herself to a runway on the Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) during a protest, in Berlin, Germany November 24, 2022, on this still image obtained from a handout video. Courtesy of LETZTE GENERATION/Handout via Reuters
Letzte Generation | Via Reuters
Berlin Brandenburg Airport said on Thursday flights were resuming with some delays after it was earlier forced to shut its runways as climate protesters broke into the location and a few of them glued themselves to the tarmac.
The activists from the Last Generation environmental group called on the general public to stop travelling by air and on the federal government to stop subsidising it.
“In an airport area that is just not open to the general public, we encountered several individuals who had previously gained unauthorised access and a few glued themselves (to the tarmac),” Berlin police said on Twitter.
The protest, the newest by climate activists in Germany, also urged the federal government to expand low cost train travel offers.
“One affluent percent of the population is chargeable for around half of flight-related greenhouse gas emissions,” Last Generation said in a press release, adding that a 70 year-old man was among the many activists within the airport.
A spokesperson for the airport said the activists had entered the airport from two points within the north and south, and police had detained them.
The spokesperson couldn’t say what number of flights were affected.
Flight tracking website FlightRadar24 showed some aircraft that were originally heading to the airport modified their route.
Some 13 flights had been diverted to airports within the eastern state Saxony by 6 p.m. (1700 GMT), rbb broadcaster reported, citing Mitteldeutsche Flughafen AG, the corporate that operates the airports in Dresden and Leipzig.
