Berlin's Brandenburg Gate spray-painted by climate activists

[September 18, 2023]  FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Climate activists sprayed orange and yellow paint on the columns of Berlin's landmark Brandenburg Gate on Sunday to push demands for a stop to the use of fossil fuels by 2030.  

"Members of the so-called 'Last Generation' sprayed the columns on the east side of the Brandenburg Gate with orange paint from fire extinguishers during the morning," Berlin police said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Police cordon off the area after Last Generation ("Letzte Generation") climate activists threw paint on the columns of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, September 17, 2023. REUTERS/Swantje Stein

It added that police officers noticed a hydraulic lift was being operated at the gate and they kept the protesters from scaling the landmark building. They arrested all 14 protesters at the site and launched an investigation into property damage.

The Last Generation, a Germany-based group within the Europe-wide A22 network that includes Britain's Just Stop Oil, has made headlines in Germany with hundreds of road blocks by protesters who glued themselves to the tarmac.

Their action has triggered a law-enforcement crackdown by Germany's federal states.

The Last Generation posted pictures of the spray-painting on X.

"We will not stop our protest unless a pivot is initiated. We have to exit oil, natural gas and coal by 2030 at the latest," it said.

Germany aims to reach net-zero emissions by 2045, but it missed annual targets for the last two years.

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Christina Fincher)

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