(Malmö) For her first trial, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg escaped a prison sentence and was fined Monday in Sweden for refusing to comply during a blocking action in mid-June.
On June 19, the young Swede had, with other activists, blocked access to the port of Malmö in order to protest against the use of fossil fuels and refused to obey police orders.
“It is true that I was at this place that day and that I received an order that I did not listen to, but I want to deny” any crime, pleaded in court Greta Thunberg, according to an AFP photographer on the spot.
She explained that she acted “out of necessity” in the face of the climate emergency.
“In my opinion, we are in an emergency situation, and for this reason, my action was legitimate,” she justified at a press conference following her trial.
In theory punishable by six months in prison – a sentence rarely imposed in this type of case – the activist was sentenced to pay a fine of 1,500 crowns (130 euros) and 1,000 crowns in compensation.
According to the complaint, 20-year-old Greta Thunberg “participated in a protest that disrupted traffic” and “refused to obey police orders to leave the scene.”
That day, she had taken part in an action alongside the organization “Ta tillbaka framtiden”, in the port of Malmö, where the entrances and exits had been blocked by the immobilization of vehicles and tank trucks.
‘Absurd’ punishment
“We are certainly not going to retreat,” reacted the activist after the announcement of the verdict, arguing that the laws must be changed to be able to protect the planet.
“It is absurd that those who act according to scientific data, those who block the fossil fuel industry, are the ones who must pay the price,” she added.
On the side of the organization “Ta tillbaka framtiden”, the determination to fight against the fossil fuel industry also remains intact.
“If the court chooses to see our action of (disrupting traffic) as a crime, it can do it, but we know that we have the right to live, and the fossil fuel industry is blocking this right”, reacted to AFP Irma Kjellström of “Ta tillbaka framtiden”, who specifies that in total, six activists from the organization will also be tried following the action on the port of Malmö.
“We young people are not going to wait, but are going to do what we can to stop this industry that is burning our lives,” she added, claiming the mode of action of civil disobedience.
On a Friday in August 2018, the activist, 15 years old at the time and totally unknown, sat for the first time in front of the Swedish Parliament with her sign “School strike for the climate”.
In a few months, from Berlin to Sydney, from San Francisco to Johannesburg, young people followed suit and the “Fridays for Future” movement was born.
Beyond her climate protests, Greta Thunberg regularly attacks politicians and governments for their climate inaction.