Last Generation (climate movement) uses vandalism
Methods
The Last Generation's main method is road blockades, while at the beginning of the movement, the group also frequently distributed food from dumpsters for free.The group also used paint to vandalise property. An example of this is their vandalism actions in Sylt, where the group used paint on several buildings and a private jet.History of actions
The Last Generation state that they performed 370 actions between January and October 2022.
In October 2022, two Last Generation activists threw mashed potatoes at a Monet painting behind glass, titled Grainstacks. The painting is part of the impressionism collection of Hasso Plattner, a German billionaire, at the Museum Barberini in Potsdam, Germany. Plattner reportedly paid 111 million euros for the painting in 2019. The painting was left undamaged. However, the museum stated that the frame was damaged, and estimated that its restoration would incur a five-figure cost in euros.Similarly, in November 2022, the Last Generation threw soup at 'The Sower' by Vincent van Gogh, also behind glass, at the Palazzo Bonaparte in Rome, Italy. The painting, which was on loan from the Dutch Kröller-Müller Museum, suffered no damage, like another van Gogh painting targeted by a similar protest by Just Stop Oil two weeks earlier in London.In February 2023, motorists attempted to remove Last Generation protesters from a motorway near the event venue ICC Berlin, with one car driver running over a protester's foot. The police were at the scene and initiated criminal proceedings against the driver, on suspicion of simple bodily harm.In April 2023, the group protested at the Berlin ePrix, a Formula E electric car race, by gluing themselves to the track and support vehicles right before the start. That same month, the use by police of pain compliance techniques to disperse a Letzte Generation road blockade came under public and legal scrutiny in Germany.In May 2023, Letzte Generation spray-painted a Piper PA-23 'Aztec' private airplane at Berlin airport. In the same month, in Vienna, an emergency patient died in congestion caused by the group. A speaker of the group stated that it had made the mistake of not informing the ambulance service centre.
On 23 May 2023, two activists from the group poured mud over themselves outside the Senate building in Rome to protest fossil fuel use. They also drew attention to the devastating effects of floods linked to climate change, such as those which had recently hit the Emilia-Romagna region. The group had previously poured black liquid into the Trevi Fountain in Rome and glued themselves to a piece of art in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.In May 2023, 170 police officers conducted raids on flats around Germany, arresting activists, shutting down the group's website, and freezing accounts linked to the group. The authorities claimed the group was using the website to raise funds for "further criminal acts", stating at least 1.4 million euros had been collected. Two of the group's members were alleged to have planned an attack on an oil pipeline in Bavaria.During June 2023, the group performed vandalism on the wealthy island of Sylt. They most notably sprayed orange paint onto a private jet (reported as make Cessna CJ1), as well as several buildings. In the same month, Letzte Generation spray-painted the Lady M, a 30-metre private yacht of a German company owner on the German Baltic coast. The yacht was designed for a crew of four staff members and six guests, and comes with a 29,000-litre fuel tank.On 25 June 2023, the Munich public prosecutor's office confirmed that German investigators have been tapping and monitoring several communications from the climate activist group, following revelations in the German press about the case.