by AFP Staff Writers
Stockholm, Sweden – A Stockholm court fined climate activist Greta Thunberg on Wednesday for disobeying police orders after blocking access to Sweden’s parliament during a protest.
Police removed Thunberg on March 12 and 14 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.
jll-nzg/spb/rlp
© Agence France-Presse
(Featured image: Greta Thunberg speaks in front of the Reichstag, Berlin, September 24th, 2021; Credits: Stefan Müller | CCBY4.0)
