JOHAN NILSSON / AFP
The first trial of Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg begins this Monday, July 24, in Malmo, southern Sweden, where she will be tried for refusing to comply.
ENVIRONMENT – With the “school strikes for the climate” five years ago, she became a personality revered by young people and ecologists. The first trial of Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg begins Monday, July 24, in Malmo, southern Sweden. She is accused of defying police orders during an action in mid-June in which she and other activists blocked the city’s port.
The young woman is due to appear before the court in Malmö at 11:30 local time on charges of “refusal to comply”. She will be present, confirmed AFP Irma Kjellström, spokeswoman for the environmental organization “Tatilbaka framtiden” (“Demand the Future”).
On June 19, the climate activist “participated in a demonstration that disrupted traffic,” according to the complaint seen by AFP. “She refused to follow police instructions to leave the premises.”
” No comment “
On that day, 20-year-old Greta Thunberg joined the organization Ta tillbaka framtiden in an action in the port of Malmö, whose activists blocked the entrance and exit to protest the use of fossil fuels by immobilizing vehicles and tankers.
“We choose not to be bystanders and … (thereby) physically shutting down fossil fuel infrastructure. “We’re reclaiming the future,” Greta Thunberg said in an Instagram post at the time.
During her interrogation by the police, Greta Thunberg contradicted the investigator’s questions with a laconic “No comment”, according to the preliminary investigation report, of which AFP had obtained a copy.
On the part of the organization “Tatilbaka framtiden” the determination to fight against the fossil fuel industry remains unbroken. “If the court decides to make our action (traffic disruption) a criminal offence, it can do so, but we know that we have the right to life and the fossil fuel industry is blocking that right,” responded Irma Kjellström, who says that a total of six activists from the organization will also be brought to justice following the action in Malmö port.
short penalty or fine
“We young people will not wait, we will do what we can to stop this industry that is burning our lives,” she added, citing the mechanism of civil disobedience.
Greta Thunberg faces a maximum sentence of six months in prison, but according to prosecutor Charlotte Ottosen, the charge in question usually carries a fine.
On a Friday in August 2018, the then 15-year-old and completely unknown activist sat in front of the Swedish parliament for the first time with her sign “School strike for the climate”. In just a few months, young people from Berlin to Sydney, from San Francisco to Johannesburg, followed suit and the “Fridays for Future” movement was born.
Beyond her climate protests, Greta Thunberg regularly attacks politicians and governments for their inaction on climate.
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