After bridge blockade

Karner delighted with “record fine” for climate campaigners

Eleven climate activists have received the highest administrative fines in Vienna to date for a protest action in which the Last Generation besieged the Reichsbrücke bridge, among other places, last year. The penalties were recently confirmed by the administrative court - much to the delight of Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP).

In this case, he is "very, very grateful that the courts have decided in this way", said Karner on the sidelines of a press conference in Vienna on Tuesday. Members of the Last Generation had lodged an appeal following a protest action on 15 May 2023, but the court rejected it. 

Karner: "Decided with appropriate severity"
The police are taking action "with all vehemence against climate stickers" and if there are now higher penalties, "that should be fine with me as Minister of the Interior", explained the minister when asked by a journalist. The fact that the court had "ruled with the appropriate severity" was positive, according to Karner, who emphasized that he did not normally comment on court rulings.

The 1,200 euros to be paid in each case represents a "record fine" for the movement. "These are the highest administrative fines we have ever received in Vienna," spokeswoman Marina Hagen-Canaval told APA.