Greta Thunberg fined for blocking Swedish parliament entrance

Greta Thunberg arrives at the Stockholm district court, which is holding the main hearing in the case where the climate activist is charged with two cases of disobedience to the authorities after protest actions at the Riksdag, in Stockholm, Sweden, May 8, 2024. Fredrik Sandberg/TT News Agency/via REUTERS

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Climate activist Greta Thunberg has been fined in her native Sweden for disobeying police orders after blocking an entrance to parliament on two occasions in March, the Stockholm District Court said on Wednesday.

The Stockholm district court holds the main hearing in the case where the climate activist Greta Thunberg is charged with two cases of disobedience to the authorities after protest actions at the Riksdag, in Stockholm, Sweden, May 8, 2024. Fredrik Sandberg/TT News Agency/via REUTERS

Thunberg and four other campaigners stood trial after police forcibly removed them on March 12 and 13 during sit-down protests against the effects of climate change and what they said was political inaction.

Thunberg was fined 6,000 Swedish crowns ($550), news agency TT reported.

A court official confirmed to Reuters that Thunberg had been found guilty but declined to comment on the size of the penalty.

Thunberg, 21, became the face of young climate activists after her weekly protests, starting in 2018, next to the Swedish parliament quickly grew into a global youth movement with large rallies across continents.

Stockholm police have said that although activists had the right to demonstrate outside the national assembly, they were removed for blocking entrances.

Last year Thunberg was found guilty twice in Sweden of disobeying a police order and ordered to pay a fine.

In February she was cleared in Britain of a public order offence as a judge ruled that police had no power to arrest her and others at a protest in London last year.

($1 = 10.8872 Swedish crowns)

(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom and Louise Rasmussen, editing by Terje Solsvik and Gareth Jones)