On June 19, the young Swede, along with other activists, blocked access to the port of this city in southern Sweden and refused to obey police orders to protest against the use of fossil fuels.
“It’s true that I was in this place that day and I received an order that I didn’t ask for, but I want to refuse,” Greta Thunberg pleaded in court, an AFP photographer at the scene said.
He explained that he had acted “unnecessarily” in the face of a climate emergency.
In theory, a six-month prison sentence – a sentence rarely pronounced in this type of case – requires the activist to pay a fine of 1,500 kroner (130 euros) and 1,000 kroner in compensation.
According to the complaint, 20-year-old Greta Thunberg “participated in a protest that disrupted traffic” and “refused to comply with police orders.”
That day, he took part in an operation in the port of Malmö, together with the organization “Da Tilbaga Framtiden”, where the entrances and exits of vehicles and tank trucks were blocked.
“We are choosing not to be bystanders and (…) physically shutting down fossil fuel infrastructure. We are reclaiming the future,” he said in an Instagram post at the time.
During her questioning with police, Greta Thunberg responded with a “no comment” response to the investigator’s questions, according to the preliminary investigation report, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.
Before his first hearing appearance on Monday at 11:00 am (same HB), he refused to answer questions from reporters.
On the side of the organization “Da Tilbaka Framtitan”, the commitment to fight against the fossil fuel industry remains the same.
“If the court chooses to see our action (obstructing traffic) as a crime, it can, but we know that we have the right to live, and the fossil fuel industry is preventing this right,” answered AFP Irma Kjellström “Tatilbaka fårðin”.
“We young people are not going to wait, but we are going to do what we can to stop this industry that is burning our lives,” he added, a method of disobedience.
On a Friday in August 2018, the activist, then 15 years old and completely unknown, sat down in front of the Swedish Parliament for the first time with a sign reading “School strike for climate”.
Within months, young people from Berlin to Sydney, San Francisco to Johannesburg followed suit, and the “Silver for the Future” movement was born.
Beyond her climate protests, Greta Thunberg continues to attack politicians and governments for their climate inaction.
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