Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was removed by law enforcement from a lockdown action in Malmö, Sweden, hours after her first trial, where she was convicted of disobeying police.
Six activists, including Greta Thunberg, were picked up by local police for “refusal to comply” after they again blocked the city’s port. This operation of the police comes a few hours after the condemnation of the young Swede to a fine for identical facts.
On June 19, along with other activists, Greta Thunberg blocked access to the same port to protest against the use of fossil fuels and refused to obey police orders.
“It is true that I was there that day and that I received an order that I did not listen to, but I would like to deny” any crime, she argued Monday before the Malmö court, 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 explained at a press conference after her trial.
In theory facing six months in prison – a sentence rarely pronounced in this type of case – the activist was sentenced to pay a fine of 1,500 crowns (191 $CA) and 1,000 crowns in compensation (127 $CA).
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.”
‘Absurd’ punishment
“We are definitely not going to retreat,” the activist said after the verdict was announced, arguing that the laws needed to be changed 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 environmental organization Ta tillbaka framtiden (Recapturing the future), with which Greta Thunberg mobilized on Monday and June 19, the determination to fight against the fossil fuel industry also remains intact. “If the court chooses to see our action [de perturber le trafic] like a crime, he can do it, but we know that we have the right to live, and the fossil fuel industry is blocking this right,” Irma Kjellström, from Ta tillbaka framtiden, told AFP.
In addition to Greta Thunberg, five activists of the organization are to be tried for the first blocking of the port of Malmö. “We young people are not going to wait, but are going to do what we can to stop this industry which is burning our lives,” added Mr.me Kjellström, claiming the mode of action of civil disobedience.
On a Friday in August 2018, the activist, 15 years old at the time and completely unknown, sat down for the first time in front of the Swedish Parliament displaying 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 inaction on climate change.