Hamburg [Germany], July 14: Germany will consider new security standards for airports after climate activists from the group Last Generation managed to stop air traffic at two major German airports for several hours on Thursday morning.
Members of the activist group got through the security perimeters of both Hamburg and Dusseldorf airports and glued themselves to the tarmac. The activist group said they cut through security fences to gain access to the airports. The protest coincided with the start of the summer holidays in Hamburg. Numerous flights were delayed at both airports as a result of the protest. Incoming planes were diverted to other airports.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser pledged new security measures in view of the airport protest actions. "There will soon be actual standards for operators of critical infrastructure. This also includes airports, and this will continue to lead to special security at airports," she said in Berlin on Thursday.
Germany's trade union for police officers also demanded improved security after the protests at the airports. "It is catastrophic for aviation security that the 'climate stickers' managed to get onto the runway at Dusseldorf Airport," the union's national chairman, HeikoTeggatz, told the Rheinische Post newspaper.
He added that "fences and barbed wire" were not enough to secure airports anymore.
In Hamburg, flights resumed about four hours after the climate activists first accessed the runway area. According to current status information, 17 arrivals and 19 departures have been cancelled.
Hamburg Airport warned that further delays or cancellations could continue throughout the day due to the disruptions. In Dusseldorf, a half-dozen Last Generation activists blocked flights by gluing themselves to a taxi-way to the airport runways. A spokeswoman for the Dusseldorf Airport was initially unable to say how many flights were affected by the protest.
On Twitter, the environmental activists wrote "We protest against the government's lack of plan and breach of law in the climate crisis." Last Generation has gained widespread notoriety in Germany for repeated protests and high-profile stunts.
Source: Qatar Tribune