Germany's Cologne-Bonn Airport halted all flights on Wednesday due to climate activists from the group Last Generation gluing their hands to a runway, declaring it 'just the beginning' of planned global actions within weeks. Concurrently, British police announced the arrest of nine Just Stop Oil activists for plotting to disrupt Heathrow Airport, one of the world's busiest. It remains unclear if the incidents were coordinated, although the German group mentioned targeting British airports among others. Cologne-Bonn Airport, Germany's sixth-largest, near the former West German capital, resumed operations in the morning after temporarily stopping all flights around 0400 GMT. Last Generation confirmed on X the disruption of air traffic at the airport and shared images of activists with glued hands on the runway. Ronja Kuenkler of Last Generation, advocating for a global agreement to phase out oil, gas, and coal by 2030, stated at a press conference: 'Today was just the beginning. We will repeat this action in Germany, Europe, and globally in the coming weeks.' She did not comment on potential targets for the Paris Olympics, set to commence on Friday. The group had forecast protests at airports across Europe and North America for Wednesday, though no significant disruptions were reported, and some actions were thwarted. In Norway, three activists were detained after breaching a fence and briefly accessing a runway at Oslo Airport, according to local police. Just Stop Oil shared a video on X showing British police arresting individuals near a fenced-off runway at an undisclosed location.
Text: Lara Palmer
24.07.2024
Last Generation and Just Stop Oil target Cologne-Bonn and Heathrow, hinting at global actions