Climate Activist Greta Thunberg Gets Fined For Disobeying Sweden Police, Denies Crime

STOCKHOLM: Famous Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg said she had acted out of necessity due to the climate crisis, as she was fined by a court on Monday for showing disobedience to police at a rally last month.

The 20-year-old climate campaigner appeared in court in the southern Swedish city of Malmo after 11 am (0900 GMT) on Monday, while declining to respond to questions from reporters.

According to the chargesheet against her accessed by the media, the activist "took part in a demonstration that disrupted traffic" and "refused to obey police orders to leave the site.”

Responding to the charges against her, Thunberg told the court, "It's correct that I was at that place on that day, and it's correct that I received an order that I didn't listen to, but I want to deny the crime.”

Thunberg stressed that she had been forced to act out of necessity, even as she cited the need created by the "climate crisis."

At the end of a short trial, the court still found that she was to be held liable for her actions and sentenced her to pay a fine of 1,500 kronor ($144) plus an additional 1,000 kronor to the Swedish fund for victims of crime.

Organized by the environmental activist group named "Ta tillbaka framtiden" (Reclaim the Future), the rally had tried to blockade the entrance and exit routes to the Malmo harbour to register their protest against the use of fossil fuel.

Thunberg said in an Instagram post dated around that time, "We choose to not be bystanders, and instead physically stop the fossil fuel infrastructure. We are reclaiming the future.”

Greta Thunberg had shot to global fame at the age of 15 when she started her "School Strike for the Climate" in front of Sweden’s parliament in Stockholm.

Later, she joined a small band of youths to found the Fridays for Future movement, which quickly turned into a global phenomenon.

Along with her climate strikes, the young activist regularly points fingers at governments and politicians for failure to properly address climate issues.

Despite the legal pressures, Reclaim the Future insists that it refuses to bow in its determination to stand up to the fossil fuels industry.

"If the court chooses to see our action as a crime it may do so, but we know we have the right to live and the fossil fuels industry stands in the way of that," group spokesperson Irma Kjellstrom said.

She also underscored that six members of the organisation would be appearing in court in Malmo.

"We young people are not going to wait but will do what we can to stop this industry which is burning our lives," she said, as she mapped out the group's plans for continuing in their civil disobedience.

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