In Germany, police and prosecutors launched their first nationwide crackdown on the Last Generation group with raids on May 24. The climate activists are charged with the "formation or support of a criminal organization" in Munich, which led to home searches and the shutdown of their website.

Four days earlier, Last Generation activists in Italy had staged an attention-grabbing protest, pouring a black liquid, charcoal diluted with water, into the Trevi Fountain in Rome. Their banner demanded "an immediate end to public subsidies for all fossil fuels." The activists were arrested and now face draconian penalties: Between €10,000 and €60,000 ($10,700 and $64,000) in damages and criminal penalties for charges of vandalizing cultural property.

Italian authorities are taking a rigorous approach to combatting these actions. In the northern city of Padua, the Last Generation is being investigated on suspicion of the forming a criminal organization, with the aid of the law enforcement unit that normally specializes in combating terrorism.

While conservative Christian Democrats favor having the group monitored by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the country's domestic intelligence agency, political scientists have criticized the recent raids as disproportionate. They say that such an approach could radicalize activists even further

The United Nations has called for the moral voice of young people to be protected.

"The choice to employ harsh measures is exactly that: A conscious choice. Governments respond to these types of activism not generally because they are obliged or 'helpless'.". "If we consider the responses to other forms of activism that could equally be described as disruptive in recent years, for example against vaccinations and the use of masks, it's clear that a choice is made as to how to respond."