After a sensational incident at the Catholic Day with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a climate activist in Stuttgart has been fined. At the end of May, the 23-year-old had interrupted a discussion by the head of government with heckling and resisted being banned from the house. In an attempt to escape, he fought back against the police and slightly injured an officer.
The case drew national attention. At the event, the young man shouted “bullshit”, among other things, when the Federal Chancellor was talking about phasing out coal-fired power generation and the jobs that would be lost in opencast mining as a result. Scholz had criticized the heckling with reference to targeted disruptive actions in the past, but left open what he was referring to. He later had to defend himself against criticism of these statements – climate activists saw them as a comparison with Nazis.
Together with two other climate activists, the man also had to answer for trespassing. In May, the trio occupied a crane on the construction site of the Stuttgart 21 railway project and unfurled a banner.
The chamber of the district court decided on a fine of 30 daily rates of 15 euros for the student for trespassing, resistance to the police and negligent bodily harm. The other two accused climate activists, a 20-year-old and a 19-year-old man, were sentenced to fines of 10 and 15 daily rates of ten euros each for trespassing. The judgments are not yet final. Several supporters of the accused protested before the trial before the district court and demanded acquittals.
