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UPDATE: Sweden’s Greta Thunberg Calls Her Malmö Fine ‘Absurd’ Then Takes Part In Another Protest

By Chris King • Updated: 24 Jul 2023 • 17:34

Image of Greta Thunberg.

Image of Greta Thunberg. Credit: Anders Hellberg/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0

UPDATE: Monday, July 24 at 5:10 pm

Greta Thunberg escaped being sent to prison this Monday, July 24. A judge sentenced the Swedish activist to pay a fine of €130, according to an AFP photographer who was present in the courtroom.

She appeared in court at 11:30 am this morning charged with refusing to obey the police in the port of Oljehamnen in Malmö last June.

She addressed the media outside the court

Speaking to the media outside the court following her hearing, the 20-year-old said: ‘It is absurd that those who act in line with science should pay the price for it. Who should be charged and responsible for the legal consequences. While the fossil fuel industry can burn up our present and future’.

She continued: ‘Right now we have no laws that keep carbon dioxide in the ground. We have no laws to protect us from the soul-destroying greed we allow to run free in the world. We have no choice but to continue not playing by the rules. It is the rules that need to be changed’.

‘We will not back down from opposition. The change that science is crying out for is not possible within today’s system’, Thunberg concluded. She will not appeal the verdict, as reported by aftonbladet.se.

She took part in a similar action only hours after leaving court

A few hours after the verdict – around 3 pm local time – Thunberg participated in a new action similar to that of mid-June, according to the same AFP photographer.

Accompanied by a dozen activists, she sat in front of the same port, blocking the entrance and holding a sign proclaiming: ‘I block tanker trucks’.

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Thursday, July 6 at 6:13 pm

Swedish Climate activist Greta Thunberg has been charged with disobedience to law enforcement after an incident in the oil port in Malmö.

As reported by Sydsvenskan, this Wednesday, July 5, Thunberg and other activists blocked tankers from driving out of the harbour by standing in front of them back in June.

According to the indictment, she refused to leave the scene when the police ordered her to. She will now be called to a hearing in Malmö district court, which is tentatively scheduled for July 28 said the news outlet.

Thunberg was once named ‘Person of the Year’

The 20-year-old is known worldwide as one of the foremost climate activists. For this, she was once named ‘Person of the Year’ by Time Magazine, among other things.

On June 19, Greta Thunberg joined the climate activists in the ‘Take back the future’ protest in Malmö. Posting to the millions of followers on her Instagram account, Thunberg told how they blocked tankers in the port from driving out – by standing in front of them.

‘Today, for the third day in a row, young activists from @tatillbakaframtiden have blocked oil tankers in the Malmö oil harbour. The climate crisis is already a matter of life and death for countless people. We choose to not be bystanders, and instead physically stop the fossil fuel infrastructure. We are reclaiming the future’, she wrote.

Several police patrols were deployed to deal with the traffic disruption due to the protest on Flintrännegatan Street. The cops filmed the sequence of events – especially the part where the activists were asked to move.

The activists were allowed to stay for a while and express their views before the police finally moved in when things started to become complicated.

‘Someone climbed on top of a lorry and prevented it from driving on’, said the police officer who was the external commander in the operation.

He reported seeing nine protesters sitting on the road to block it, with 10 more moving around the area and disrupting cars. According to his estimate, about 30 lorries were stopped from driving through,

When the police deemed the disturbance too great, the protesters were directed to a grassy area. The order to disperse was made in both English and Swedish.

The order to disperse was given but four refused to move

‘Everyone was informed individually, and it was also filmed by a police officer when this was done’, continued the external commander. Some obeyed he explained, but four refused and were subsequently lifted or dragged away from the scene.

It is an offence to disobey a police officer’s summons in any country. The protesters were dragged away by the police. At least another one of them has already been prosecuted at Malmö district court, and now Greta Thunberg faces the same fate.

‘You have freedom of demonstration, but you must not demonstrate in such a way that it causes disturbances for others. What was reported was precisely that they did not obey the police’, pointed out the prosecutor, Charlotte Ottosen.

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Written by

Chris King

Originally from Wales, Chris spent years on the Costa del Sol before moving to the Algarve where he is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com

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