The Swedish climate change activist was on trial for protesting outside an oil and gas conference in London in October.
Climate change activist Greta Thunberg has been charged with public order offenses over protests outside an oil and gas conference last year, after a judge in London ruled she had no case to answer. He was found not guilty.
District Judge John Law dismissed the case against the 21-year-old Swedish campaigner and four other activists on Friday, the second day of trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
He ruled that the arrests were made by police as they attempted to impose “unlawful” conditions during environmental protests in the British capital in October last year.
Thunberg, who has become a prominent activist around the world since holding weekly protests outside the Swedish parliament in 2018, was in London, where the Energy Intelligence Forum hosted oil and gas industry leaders. He was arrested along with dozens of others outside the hotel.
She and four others, aged between 19 and 59, were also charged with disobeying police orders to move the protest to a designated location near the meeting.
Thunberg pleaded not guilty to breaching the Public Order Act in November, along with two protesters from the Fossil Free London (FFL) campaign group and two Greenpeace activists.
She also took part in demonstrations in southern England over the weekend to protest the expansion of Farnborough Airport, which is mainly used by private jets.
“Remember who the real enemy is”
Ahead of Friday’s court ruling, Ms Thunberg lamented her inability to hold climate strikes in London.
“We stand here as climate change, environmental and human rights activists around the world are targeted for their work, prosecuted and sometimes convicted for acting in line with science, and prosecuted for their actions in line with the science. Despite being fined,” she said in the post. on social media platform X.
“We must never forget who the real enemy is,” she added.
Week 285. Today we cannot go on a climate strike. I am one of five activists on trial in London for peacefully protesting the October oil conference. The purpose of the demonstration was to highlight the dire consequences of fossil companies’ daily operations.
🧵 pic.twitter.com/hKJmhTK2WO— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) February 2, 2024
“All of you have been found not guilty of this crime,” Law told the five defendants on Friday.
In his ruling, he said the conditions imposed on demonstrators were “very unclear and illegal”, meaning “those who did not comply were not actually committing any crime”. emphasized.
Greenpeace UK campaigner Maja Darlington hailed Friday’s ruling as a “victory for the right to protest”.
She told AFP news agency that “fossil fuel giants like Shell are being allowed to make billions of dollars in profits from selling climate-destroying fossil fuels while exercising their right to peacefully protest.” It’s ridiculous that more and more climate change activists are going to court for doing this.” ”
Thunberg and her four co-defendants hugged each other before leaving the courtroom.