Footage of the incident was uploaded to the Letzte Generation Twitter feed on Wednesday.
The clip shows a furious trucker trying to drag two protestors off the road onto the pavement. He temporarily succeeds in dragging one off the road, before pushing another and threatening them with a clenched fist.
The driver then returns to his cab and drives right into the path of one of the men in the blockade, pushing him forward around 1 metre.
💥 Was werden Menschen tun, wenn Ernten ausfallen und es nicht genügend Nahrung und Trinkwasser für alle gibt?
👇🏽 Lasst uns jetzt als Gesellschaft zusammenkommen und gemeinsam Lösungen finden, damit es nicht soweit kommt:https://t.co/iee05ezeLNpic.twitter.com/UAYVER5gQM
— Letzte Generation (@AufstandLastGen) July 12, 2023
In the caption accompanying the video, Letzte Generation tweeted: “What will people do when harvests fail and there is not enough food and drinking water for everyone? Let’s come together as a society and find solutions together so that it doesn’t come to that.”
According to police, nobody was seriously injured.
Soon after the incident came to light, Air Liquide, who the trucker had been driving for via a 3rd party, said it had made it clear to its logistics partner that the HGV driver should no longer work for them. The company added that the request was contractually available to them and had been accepted.
“Such behavior is unacceptable, regardless of how one views the Last Generation discussion,” Air Liquide spokesperson Andreas Voß told the German Press Agency.
The police are investigating the truck driver on suspicion of attempted bodily harm. The trucker’s licence has also been seized and the local district court are set to decide on whether to issue him a temporary driving ban or not.
Meanwhile, the climate activists are being investigated for violating assembly law [which usually means the protest was not registered] and suspected “coercion in road traffic”.
Wednesday’s incident was just one example of the disruption caused by Letzte Generation, who also targeted airports.
The protests have proved highly controversial in Germany, much like Just Stop Oil’s stunts in the UK.
Even Climate Protection Minister Robert Habeck, who represents the Green party in Germany, thinks Letzte Generation are taking things too far:
“The activists, who are now blocking people from going on vacation, are massively damaging the issue of climate protection. This form of protest is not correct. If you really want to work for climate protection, you have to keep an eye on social acceptance,” said Habeck.