A court in Stockholm imposed a fine of 6,000 crowns (equivalent to 512 euros) on the 21-year-old on Wednesday and also ordered the payment of the equivalent of 85 euros in damages and interest. Police carried Thunberg away on March 12 and 14 following she refused to leave the main entrance to parliament in Stockholm, where she had been protesting for several days with a small group of activists. The deputies were still able to enter the building via side entrances.
Thunberg denied the accusation of civil disobedience in both cases, as a journalist from the AFP news agency reported from the trial. “Because there was and is a climate emergency,” she explained in court why she did not follow the police’s orders. “And in an emergency situation, we all have a duty to act.”
“The current laws protect the extractive industries instead of protecting people and the planet, which is what I believe should be the case,” Thunberg said as she left the courtroom.
Already convicted twice
Thunberg has already been fined twice in Sweden, in July and October 2023, for civil disobedience during similar protests.
As a 15-year-old schoolgirl, Thunberg began sitting in front of the Swedish parliament in Stockholm on Fridays to demonstrate for more climate protection. In just a few months, their weekly school strike expanded into the global protest movement Fridays for Future. Thunberg ended her school strikes following she graduated. She now regularly takes part in climate protests and other demonstrations.
