MALMÖ, Sweden (AP) — A Swedish court on Monday fined climate activist Greta Thunberg for disobeying police during an environmental protest at an oil facility last month.
Thunberg, 20, admitted the facts but denied guilt, saying fighting the fossil fuel industry was a form of self-defense due to the existential and global threat of the climate crisis.
“We can’t save the world by playing by the rules,” she told reporters after hearing the verdict, swearing she “definitely wouldn’t back down.”
The court rejected his argument and fined him 2,500 crowns (about $240).
Charges have been brought against Thunberg and several other young Reclaim the Future activists for refusing a police order to disperse after blocking road access to an oil terminal in the southern Swedish city of Malmö on June 19.
“If the court sees our self-defense actions as a crime, that’s it,” said Irma Kjellström, spokeswoman for Reclaim the Future, also present at the June protest. She added that activists “need to be right where the harm is done.”
The sentencing appears to have little effect on the youths’ resolve – hours later the Thunberg and Reclaim the Future activists returned to the oil terminal to proceed to another roadblock.
