DThe glass facade of the lecture center has been splashed with orange paint, and activists have dispersed them using two converted fire extinguishers. Two young women stand on the balcony above. One of them speaks into a megaphone and introduces herself as Katharina. “Act,” he urges: “If we want to stop the climate crisis, we must act now.” He is holding the tip of the flag. It can read “Knowledge is responsibility”.

The last generation has not been active in Frankfurt for a long time. Almost two years ago, in the spring of 2022, activists declared the city as their center of activity. Access to the airport, roads and bridges were blocked at the time. Activists also protested in front of the bank's headquarters where they poured black colored fake oil. The police and courts reacted harshly to the actions, and some protesters were detained for several days. After a few weeks, the group took their protests back to Berlin. In the Rhine-Main region, things became quiet within the last generation or so.

Now it appears that activists are making a second attempt at a protest in Frankfurt. On Monday morning, they came with a dozen activists to the Westend campus of Goethe University in Frankfurt. The press was informed about the planned action in advance, but the group also brought its own photographer to the campus.

Creating attention and ensuring that the topic of climate protection does not disappear from the media and people's consciousness is what the last generation is concerned about, says one of the activists Anton. He is not from Frankfurt but came from Saarbrücken to take part in the campaign, he does not want to give his last name.

“Our protest is annoying”

Anton does not accept the objection that the protest is counterproductive and turns the population against the climate protection movement. “Our protest is annoying, but it forces people to take a stand,” he says. Other protest movements that carried out civil disobedience were initially violently rejected by the majority of the population, but eventually achieved major changes, the activist argues. “Even Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi were as unpopular in their day as they are now,” he says, “And even if I wake you up in the night because your house is on fire, you'll be upset from the start.”

But the activists didn't get much response to their campaign. The vast majority of students on their way to the lecture hall building pass by the plastered facade without moving. And dissatisfaction is also limited. “You are donkeys,” shouts one indignant, “antisocial scum,” another, but otherwise the color attack leaves the students cold.

After about three quarters of an hour, the police arrive. And the cleaning crew arrives. The paint can be easily removed from the facade with a high pressure washer. Only a few orange spots in the snow remain. And the cops will soon be on the road again. They can't find any damage to the property, the paint was too easy to wipe off.