The scenario is always similar: activists organize an action, go to an important street (for example WisÅ‚ostrada), block traffic, and over time the police take them off the road. The Last Generation organized a series of such protests because Donald Tusk's government did not respond to their climate demands. Now they have received a reaction – but this is not an announcement of fulfillment of demands or talks, but of severe penalties.
On Monday, Donald Tusk commented on the protests on the X website (formerly Twitter) and wrote that “blocking roads, regardless of political intentions, poses a threat to the state and all road users.” He added that he called on the services to “react decisively and counteract such actions.” The police are not lenient towards activists at all, and it does not stop at taking them off the road. According to the capital police headquarters, explanatory proceedings were initiated against 335 people, and 134 applications for punishment were submitted to the court.
“These politicians called for taking to the streets”
Roman Giertych, former MP of the Civic Coalition, also spoke president of the extreme, nationalist organization MÅ‚odzież Wszechpolska. In his opinion, treating entering the road as an offense is not enough. He announced that he would submit a proposal to be included in Criminal Code the crime of “blocking the road for ideological, political, social or ideological reasons”, which will be punishable by up to 5 years in prison. “These supposedly Last Generation circuses would soon end,” he wrote.
– To be honest – we are terrified by how the climate crisis affects us every day, and at the same time politicians are trying to intimidate us – Sylwia Ziental from the Last Generation comments in an interview with Gazeta.pl. He accuses those in power of hypocrisy:
– Some time ago, during the PiS government, the same politicians called for taking to the streets, protesting in large numbers, and showing the strength of citizens. Now they forget about it.
Ziental announces that despite Tusk's and Giertych's statements, they plan further protests and will block the streets until the government meets their two demands. It's a 100 percent donation money from the construction of new expressways and highways for regional public transport and a common ticket for PLN 50 per month for regional transport throughout the country.
Tusk's entry appeared on Monday, so it is not yet clear what he means by “reacting decisively.” Ziental says police are responding in a similar way to recent protests as before. – Usually they show up after 15 minutes and we are taken off the street. We don't know what will happen now and what the Prime Minister's announcement will mean. Each of us is afraid of what may happen to us, he adds.
Ziental says – like other Last Generation activists before – that they use certain methods because they “tried everything”, but petitions, demonstrations and strikes did not bring the expected results. – We are the same people who were supported a few years ago ago we organized climate strikes. But those protests did not produce any results, and when we continue our activities today, we are criticized, he says.
– We would like to tell drivers who are angry with us that we have no other choice. We do not believe that our protests are a security threat. During the last protest on Czerniakowska Street, we were literally stuck in a traffic jam, and these drivers were stuck in it anyway. A 15-minute traffic jam in Warsaw is nothing unusual, but rather an everyday occurrence
– adds the activist.
Scientific evidence and calculations show that activists are not exaggerating when they say how urgent the climate crisis is. The year 2024 will almost certainly end up being the hottest in recorded history, and it is possible that the temperature will be the highest in up to 100,000 years. This means that human civilization has never functioned in such conditions (and in such a rapidly changing climate), and our cities, infrastructure, roads – are adapted to conditions that no longer exist.
According to experts, the current actions of the world's countries will lead to to up to three degrees of global warming this century, with disastrous consequences. At just two degrees of warming, most coral reefs will be at risk of extinction, which will translate into the death of fish (and, consequently, food problems in many regions of the world). There will be more such cascading effects. With such rapid climate change, the effects of downpours and floods, droughts and heatwaves will overlap. There will be an increased risk of exceeding the so-called tipping points, such as the breakdown of currents in the Atlantic, which in itself may turn the climate of Europe and others upside down.
“Civil disobedience”
The first verdicts have already been passed in the cases of climate protests – including those that activists considered favorable for themselves.
In October, the court sentenced a group of people for blocking the Poniatowski Bridge and entering the Taylor Swift concert to the lowest possible penalty, i.e. a reprimand.
In its justification, the court stated that “it considers the acts charged as a form of civil disobedience that served to show society the values ​​close to the accused”, i.e. to draw attention to the climate crisis. The court also wrote:
“It should be considered significant and symbolic […] recognize the place where the offense in question was committed – Siwca Street, where in 1968 another Polish citizen – Ryszard Siwiec wanted to reach the social community by committing self-immolation – to awaken it, but in a sphere of our lives other than environmental protection. Currently, this person is a hero to many, and perhaps in the future it will turn out that the current defendants will become such heroes.
The Last Generation on censored on TVP
The group was also censored by a public television station. The director of TVP3 Warszawa, Jakub Sito, decided that the station would not inform about the activities of The Last Generation, mentioning the group by name. The station will talk “about the effects of the protests, while emphasizing that they are illegal.”
At the same time, the station declared that it is open to “a substantive discussion on climate change, which will include space for climate activists and experts in this field.” Sito said that he also invited the Last Generation to this discussion and proposed organizing a debate with activists and experts.
– It shocked me because it is an approach that contradicts freedom of speech. Not so long ago, citizens could not obtain reliable knowledge about the world from TVP. Now history is repeating itself, said Sylwia Ziental. The activist does not know anything about an official invitation, but if one appears, activists will consider participating in the debate.