Swedish Court Convicts Greta Thunberg For Truck-Blocking Protest

Greta Thunberg will have to pay a small fine after being convicted of disobeying a lawful order of the authorities to stop blocking a road earlier this year, an outcome she has decried as “absurd”.

Those who burn fossil fuels should be in court, not those who fight against them, climate celebrity Greta Thunberg said today as she was handed a criminal record in a Swedish court for a protest action earlier this year. Thunberg was ordered to pay 50 kronor, or £3.75/$4.80 a day every day for 30 days. In all, the fine will add up to just £112, or $144.

It was previously reported she could have faced months of prison time, underlining the leniency of the fine.

The activist blocked traffic by sitting in the road with a group of other young people in the port city of Malmo in June, part of a series of disruptions over several days. While police initially stood by and watched, eventually it was judged the disruption being caused was too great and the protesters were asked to leave. Those who did not were carried away by officers, and charged with disobeying an order.

Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reports that Thunberg was scathing of her conviction, meaning for the first time in years of protests she now has a criminal record. She told the court on Monday that: “My actions are justifiable. I believe that we are in an emergency that threatens life, health and property… We are in a climate emergency and we don’t want to wait for someone to act. We chose to block oil trucks.”

Speaking to a considerable gaggle of photographers waiting for her outside the court after the verdict, Thunberg criticised the prosecution, saying that oil companies are the true criminals. She said, vowing to keep protesting: “It is absurd that those who act according to the science should pay the price for it… While those who burn the fossil fuels do not have to be held accountable.”