The Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has been standing together with four colleagues since Thursday London in court. The prosecution accuses the 21-year-old and the four men of disturbing public order. They were temporarily arrested in October 2023 during a demonstration against a meeting of energy managers in the British capital.
In a statement outside the courthouse after the day’s session concluded, Thunberg defended the climate protests. “Even if we are the ones standing here, climate, environmental and human rights activists around the world are being persecuted, sometimes convicted, and receive punishments for following the line of science,” the Swede said, according to the PA news agency. She added: “We must remember who the real enemy is, what we are defending, who our laws are designed to protect.”
At the start of the trial in the courtroom, the defendants only gave their names and dates of birth. They pleaded not guilty at a hearing in November. If convicted, they face a fine. A verdict is expected to come on Friday at the earliest.
Activists demonstrate in front of the courthouse
Thunberg and the other demonstrators – two members each of the organizations Greenpeace and Fossil Free London – are said to have refused to give access to the conference hotel. An officer gave a final warning, but Thunberg did not comply with the request to move away, said prosecutor Luke Staton. She was then arrested.
The superintendent in charge of the Londoners police had ordered that they were only allowed to demonstrate on a sidewalk opposite the hotel, as he confirmed in court. People couldn’t get in or out of the hotel. The hotel operators had cordoned off the building with fences because of the protest and deployed their own security personnel.
Several environmental activists demonstrated outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday. “Climate protest is not a crime,” read one poster. During the protest in October, 26 people were arrested – during which the “real climate criminals” dined in a luxury hotel, said the group Fossil Free London.
The Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has been standing together with four colleagues since Thursday London in court. The prosecution accuses the 21-year-old and the four men of disturbing public order. They were temporarily arrested in October 2023 during a demonstration against a meeting of energy managers in the British capital.
In a statement outside the courthouse after the day’s session concluded, Thunberg defended the climate protests. “Even if we are the ones standing here, climate, environmental and human rights activists around the world are being persecuted, sometimes convicted, and receive punishments for following the line of science,” the Swede said, according to the PA news agency. She added: “We must remember who the real enemy is, what we are defending, who our laws are designed to protect.”