A Swedish court on Monday fined climate change activist Greta Thunberg for disobeying the police during an environmental protest at an oil facility last month.
The 20-year-old was ordered to pay 2,500 Swedish krona ($240; £187) after she argued that she was acting out of self-defense and would not stop, as the use of fossil fuels poses a global threat to existence.
Prosecutors said the protest caused traffic disruption in the area, and Greta was charged with failing to leave the scene when asked to by the police.
“We cannot save the world by playing by the rules,” she told journalists after the verdict, vowing she would “definitely not” back down.
And she did just that, as hours after leaving the courtroom, Thunberg and her other activists from the Ta tillbaka framtiden (Reclaim the Future) movement staged another roadblock at an oil terminal in the southern Swedish city of Malmö.
She was arrested again by the police.
“I believe that we are in an emergency that threatens life, health and property,” she told the court in Malmö on Monday, adding that “countless people” were at risk.
“It’s correct that I was at that place on that day, and it’s correct that I received an order that I didn’t listen to, but I want to deny the crime,” she said.
In a June protest, Ta tillbaka framtiden tried to block the entrance and exit to the Malmö harbor to protest against the use of fossil fuels.
“We choose to not be bystanders, and instead physically stop the fossil fuel infrastructure. We are reclaiming the future,” Thunberg said in an Instagram post at the time.
The climate group on its part said it remains determined to stand up to the industry.
“If the court chooses to see our action as a crime it may do so, but we know we have the right to live and the fossil fuels industry stands in the way of that,” group spokesperson Irma Kjellstrom told AFP news agency.
