Climate activists glued themselves to a runway at a Berlin airport, forcing officials to divert over a dozen flights

• Climate activists halted air traffic at Berlin's Brandenburg Airport for 90 minutes on Thursday.
• They glued themselves to a runway and rode bikes in the area to protest air travel, climate group Last Generation said.

Climate activists broke through a runway fence at Berlin's Brandenburg Airport and glued themselves to the tarmac, forcing air traffic to a standstill on Thursday.

Three protestors in orange vests cut through the fence and walking to the runway, per footage posted by climate activism group Last Generation. It's not immediately clear if other off-camera activists joined in the protest.

A photo shows a protestor sitting with their hand on the tarmac next to bottles of glue. "Some are glued to the asphalt, others ride their bikes across the shunting area," Last Generation tweeted.

The organization said the activists notified the police beforehand.

It denounced air travel as "not a means of transport for normal citizens." "One affluent percent of the population is responsible for around half of flight-related greenhouse gas emissions," the group tweeted.

Brandenburg Airport spokesperson Jan-Peter Haack told Insider in an email that two groups trespassed airport grounds on Thursday — one group entered from the north while the other entered from the south.

The protestors were arrested and identified by police, Haack added.

Their protest disrupted flight operations for 90 minutes on Thursday, and 15 flights were diverted while another five departures were delayed or canceled, he wrote.

Around 3,000 to 4,000 passengers were affected in total, German broadcaster RBB reported.

Meanwhile, the Last Generation protestors are to be charged with dangerous interference of air traffic, trespassing, and property damage, RBB reported, citing police.

Michael Stübgen, the Brandenburg Interior Minister, condemned the protest, calling it a "serious criminal offense" that could have endangered human life, per German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel.

"Anyone who intentionally puts others in danger for their worldview is not an activist, but a criminal," he said in German.

That's not the first time The Last Generation has publicly protested for the environment.

In October, two Last Generation members threw mashed potatoes at a $110 million Claude Monet painting in a museum.

On Friday, an eco-activism group in Italy under the same name also threw flour over a car that was repainted by Andy Warhol in 1979.

Last Generation members also blocked traffic near the Brandenburg Airport on Friday by sitting on a highway.

The Berlin federal police did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

November 25, 2022: This story was updated to reflect comment from a spokesperson for the Brandenburg Airport.