FRANKFURT (AFP) – Police yesterday 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 0502GMT, 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 yesterday as “criminal” action and demanded tough penalties against activists.
