Greta Thunberg fined over Stockholm protest

Greta Thunberg, the Swedish climate activist who inspired the “Fridays for Future” movement, was ordered to pay 6,000 Swedish crowns ($550, €512) by a Stockholm court on  Wednesday.

Thunberg was accused of ignoring police orders to leave two protests in front of Sweden’s Parliament in March calling for action to be taken against climate change.

What did Thunberg say in court?

The activist was being charged with two counts of civil disobedience. She has denied the charges in court.

She told the judge she refused to move 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,” the 21-year-old activist said leaving the courtroom. 

What happened during March protests?

Thunberg, 21, took part in a dayslong series of protests in March which included the main entrance to the parliament building being blocked several times.

Police bodily removed the activist from the scene on March 12 and 14 after she refused to leave the area as ordered. 

Politicians were still able to enter the building via side entrances.

Thunberg has already been fined twice by Swedish courts for civil disobedience at climate protests.

The “Fridays for Future” movement came into being after Thunberg, then aged just 15, skipped school on a Friday in August 2018 to stage a protest outside the Swedish Parliament, holding a sign that read “Skolstrejk för klimatet” (“School strike for climate”).

Millions of school pupils around the world have since followed her example, justifying their absence from school by emphasizing the vital importance of taking action to halt the global warming endangering the liveability of Earth.

jsi, tj/dj (AFP, EFE)