London: Greta Thunberg, a Swedish climate activist, went on trial this Thursday for a public order violation connected to her demonstration outside a London oil and gas conference last year.
She had been protesting outside a hotel with other protesters, where the Energy Intelligence Forum was hosting officials of the oil and gas business. She was taken into custody on October 17.
Thunberg rose to prominence as a global campaigner after she staged a protest in front of the Swedish parliament in 2018.
The 21-year-old, along with four other defendants ranging from age 19 to 59, entered a not-guilty plea to a single Public Order Act charge at Westminster Magistrates Court.
Two metropolitan police officers reportedly gave her a last warning, but she allegedly refused to go to the approved protest location, declaring that she was “staying where she was”.
A smiling Thunberg navigated her way past cameras and police to the court to chants of “climate protest is not a crime” by environmental activists.
After the day’s proceedings, standing outside the court with some of her co-defendants in the case, Thunberg defended climate activists facing prosecution, saying: “We must remember who the real enemy is.”
One of the most well-known activists in the world, Thunberg is a Swedish environmental activist who gained notoriety for pressuring world leaders to act quickly to mitigate climate change. –Agencies
