Germany raids Last Generation activists' homes

German investigators have launched a nationwide crackdown on members of the Last Generation ClimateActivist group, the Munich State Prosecutor's Office said Wednesday.

A total of 15 properties have been searched in seven German states, including the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office (LKA) and the Munich General Public Prosecutor's Office, authorities said.

Four searches were carried out in Berlin, three in Bavaria and three in Hesse. There were other actions in Hamburg, Magdeburg, Dresden, and Schleswig-Holstein, authorities said.

The Prosecutor General's Office in Munich said it has initiated a preliminary investigation based on numerous criminal complaints from the population against a total of seven defendants aged 22 to 38 years, on the charge of forming or supporting a criminal organization. The notifications have been received since the middle of 2022.

The defendants are alleged to have arranged a fundraising campaign to finance further crimes for Last Generation, offering it on its website and collecting at least 1.4 million Euros $1.5 million in donations.

In April 2022, two defendants are believed to have tried to sabotage the Trieste-Ingolstadt oil pipeline, the LKA said.

Last Generation activists have been blocking roads in Germany for about a year by gluing themselves to the streets. The climate protection organization says its protests are solely non-violent.