Climate activist Greta Thunberg was caught on camera being carried away by police officers just hours after being fined by a Swedish court on Monday for failing to obey a police order to leave a climate protest at an oil facility.
In court, the 20-year-old admitted to the facts related to the protest which took place on June 19 in the southern Swedish city of Malmö, but denied the charge, saying her actions “are justifiable”.
Ms Thunberg argued the battle against the fossil fuel industry is a form of self-defence given the global and existential threat posed by the climate crisis.
But the court rejected her argument and handed her a fine amounting to a little more than £187 (2,500 Swedish Krona).
The activist told reporters after the verdict: “We cannot save the world by playing by the rules.”
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The young woman added she would “definitely not” back down despite this ruling.
Charges were brought against Ms Thunberg as well as other young activists from the Reclaim the Future movement for refusing a police order to disperse after blocking road access to oil trucks to a terminal in the Malmö harbour.
In an Instagram post at the time, Ms Thunberg said: “We choose to not be bystanders, and instead physically stop the fossil fuel infrastructure. We are reclaiming the future.”
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Following the verdict, Irma Kjellström, a spokesperson for Reclaim the Future who was also present at the protest in June, said the group remains determined to stand up to the fossil fuel industry.
She told the AFP news agency: “If the court chooses to see our action as a crime it may do so, but we know we have the right to live and the fossil fuels industry stands in the way of that.”
Activists, she added, “have to be exactly where the harm is being done”.
Ms Thunberg and the organisation demonstrated to be true to their words, as they returned to the oil terminal to stage another roadblock just hours after the verdict.
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Ms Thunberg has become one of the most prominent faces of the youth climate activism movement.
She rose to face in 2018, when she started skipping classes on Fridays to stage protests outside the Swedish Parliament.
Since then, many other students and young people around the world started carrying out similar protests in their countries.
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