German prosecutors admit they tapped phone calls of climate activists

German prosecutors have admitted to tapping the phones of members of the Letzte Generation (Last Generation) climate activist group, which is famous for its dramatic protest tactics.

The report first emerged in Germany's Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper on Saturday. The daily revealed that the phone tapping had begun in October, when prosecutors began monitoring emails, voice mail accounts, and the GPS data belonging to the group's members.

Reacting to the news, the Last Generation wrote on Twitter, "We protest with name and face, publish our plans, [and] accept the legal consequences."

The group added, "Nevertheless, the Bavarian LKA (police) logged telephone calls, emails and movement profiles. Even our press phone was monitored. That is absurd!"

Last month, it was reported that the German police had launched a nationwide raid against members of the group, as activists continued to protest in an effort to pressure the government to take more drastic action against climate change.

German police carry out nationwide raids against climate activists

German police launch a nationwide raid against members of the Last Generation climate group.

Bavaria's police and the Munich State Prosecutor’s Office announced in a joint statement at the time that the raids were ordered in a preliminary investigation "due to numerous criminal complaints from the population" against a total of seven people aged 22 to 38 years, over suspicions of "forming or supporting a criminal organization."

Activists of the Last Generation group have been blocking roads across Germany for about a year by gluing themselves to streets, delaying flights and blocking road traffic.

Earlier this month, a group of Last Generation protesters spray-painted a private jet orange, while several others glued themselves to the plane and the tarmac.

Dozens of climate activists from the group have found themselves before the courts over their traffic blockade actions. Most of them have received fines for disrupting traffic or obstructing police work, but some courts have begun toughening their sentences by handing down jail convictions.

Scuffles break out during climate protest against German coal mine expansion

Scuffles break out during a climate protest against coal mine expansion in Germany.

Conversations between members of the group and journalists making media inquiries were among the calls that have been monitored, a spokesperson for the prosecutors' office said.

While the journalists themselves were not targeted, they "were affected by the measures due to calls made via the monitored telephone numbers," the unnamed spokesperson added.

Top German politicians have also reacted to the new revelation.

While Lars Castellucci, an MP from Chancellor Olaf Scholz's ruling Social Democrats (SPD), said the wiretapping "raises questions about proportionality," Dietmar Bartsch, parliamentary leader of the far-left Linke opposition party, called the surveillance "completely inappropriate."

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