Germany gets tough with climate activists
Today's raids were ordered over suspicions that the activists were "forming or supporting a criminal organisation", said a joint statement by Bavaria's police and prosecutors.
Fifteen properties were searched, two accounts seized and an asset freeze ordered.
The suspects are accused of "organising a donations campaign to finance further criminal acts" for the group via its website.
At least 1.4 million euros ($1.5 million) had been collected in the campaign, said the authorities, adding that "these funds were according to current information mostly used for the committing of further criminal action of the association".
The authorities did not specify the "criminal action" they were referring to but said two of the suspects are alleged to have tried to sabotage an oil pipeline between Trieste, Italy, and Ingolstadt, Germany, deemed "critical infrastructure" in Bavaria.
At a press conference following the raids, the activists said they would not be cowed.
Spokeswoman Aimee van Baalen admitted that she was terrified when she learnt about the raids targeting her friends.
"They frighten us, but we must not persist in this fear. The government is steering us into a climate hell with our eyes wide open," she said.
"We must continue our resistance," she said, calling a demonstration next Wednesday.
Rutte Assures €150 Million Subsidy for Shell
Shell ’received €150m of subsidies for green hydrogen project that was ineligible for support': report
Shell should have been ineligible for the €150m ($162m) subsidy it received for its 200MW Holland Hydrogen 1 green H2 project, but the oil giant — basking in record profits due to high fossil-gas prices —managed to get its hands on the eight-figure sum after the European Commission succumbed to pressure from the Dutch government, according to local investigative reporting agency Follow the Money.
However, the Netherlands' Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy disputes this interpretation, telling Hydrogen Insight that the project was found to be eligible for state aid late in the process due to the discovery of a loophole.
Shell and Exxon on the hunt for Billions in Green Subsidy
Dutch Extinction Rebellion
Translation:
We are all part of the last generation that can stop catastrophic climate destruction. The question is whether we focus on #LetzteGeneration and @NLRebellion like the German and Dutch governments, or on the climate criminals of major polluters.
The deployment of German water throwers in The Hague | Dutch Lawyers Magazine |
During a demonstration of Extinction Rebellion on March 11, 2023 in The Hague, the police used two German water cannons. Whether the use of a water cannon during a peaceful demonstration is proportionate is primarily a political consideration for which the mayor is accountable to the municipal council. This article focuses on the question of whether the water cannons of the German police may be used in the Netherlands at all. There are several question marks.
Dutch farmers, climate activists hold protests in The Hague | DW News - March 11, 2023 |
Thousands of farmers and anti-establishment demonstrators protested in The Hague against government plans to cut nitrate emissions. At the same time, climate activists blocked a main road elsewhere in the city.
Translation:
Good news for #righttodemonstrate.
Hopefully anyone protesting peacefully can be assured that this really was the last time Public Prosecutor intervenes with an area ban for persons voicing freedom of expression.
Meanwhile the gap between government and its citizens …
“We The People”
Gloomy about society?
A study of differences in societal unease in the Netherlands
Work in progress ...
