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ENVIRONMENT

UK police charge Greta Thunberg after climate protest arrest

UK police on Wednesday charged Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg with a public order offence, following her detention at a protest outside an annual gathering of energy industry figures in London.

UK police charge Greta Thunberg after climate protest arrest
Environmental activist Greta Thunberg at the Oily Money Out protest in London. Photo: AP Photo/Kin Cheung

The 20-year-old activist — a key face of the movement to fight climate change — was among 26 people charged by the capital’s Metropolitan Police, after she was held at Tuesday’s demonstration.

Thunberg was charged with “failing to comply with a condition” imposed under Britain’s Public Order Act dealing with public assemblies and released on bail.

She is scheduled to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 15 November.

Thunberg was on Tuesday taken away by two police officers and put into the back of a police van outside the Energy Intelligence Forum, after joining a mass protest there.

Several hundred protestors had gathered outside the InterContinental London Park Lane hotel during the “Oily Money Out” demonstration, organised by pressure groups Fossil Free London and Greenpeace, blocking all entrances to the venue.

Prior to her arrest, Thunberg criticised “closed door” agreements struck between politicians and representatives of the oil and gas industry.

London police said they imposed “conditions to prevent disruption to the public” after officers arrived at the protest, which were then breached and prompted the arrests.

“The protestors were asked to move from the road onto the pavement, which would enable them to continue with their demonstration without breaching the conditions,” a police statement said.

Thunberg, who started the so-called “School Strike for Climate” movement as a teenager, was fined by a court in Sweden earlier this month.

It followed the court convicting her for having resisted arrest during a July protest that blocked traffic.

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CRIME

Stockholm court fines Greta Thunberg over parliament climate protest

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was handed a fine for disobeying police orders after blocking access to Sweden's parliament during a protest.

Stockholm court fines Greta Thunberg over parliament climate protest

Police removed Thunberg on March 12th and 14th after she refused to leave the main entrance, where she was protesting with a small group of activists for several days. MPs could still access the building via secondary entrances.

The court said it fined the activist 6,000 Swedish kronor ($551) and ordered her to pay 1,000 kronor in damages and interest.

Thunberg denied the charges of two counts of civil disobedience, according to an AFP journalist at the hearing.

Asked by the judge why she had not obeyed police orders, she replied: “Because there was a (climate) emergency and there still is. And in an emergency, we all have a duty to act.”

“The current laws protect the extractive industries instead of protecting people and the planet, which is what I believe should be the case,” she said as she left the courtroom.

Thunberg has been fined twice before in Sweden, in July and October 2023, for civil disobedience during similar protests.

In February, a London judge dropped charges against her for disturbing the peace during a demonstration against the oil industry in October in the British capital.

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