Swedish police on Tuesday forcibly removed climate activist Greta Thunberg, who was blocking the entrance to the Swedish Parliament with other climate activists, according to
Reuters
.
Two police officers picked up the climate activist and dragged her away before placing her on the ground about twenty meters from the door she was blocking.
Greta Thunberg and dozens of other environmental activists began blocking the main entrances to the Swedish parliament on Monday, holding a banner bearing their classic slogan: "
Climate Justice Now,"
as part of a sit-in protest against the effects of climate change and what they called political inaction.
“We are a group of young people blocking the entrances to the Swedish Parliament, the Riksdag, to protest the ongoing destruction of our life support systems and the people already killed due to the climate crisis
,” Thunberg said.
“This has to stop.
We have had enough
,” she said in an interview with Reuters, accusing politicians of inaction on global warming.
She also judged that the youth mobilized for the climate for five years had been forced to
“grow up too quickly”
to fight against the damage caused by previous generations.
The activists left the scene Monday afternoon, but returned to demonstrate Tuesday morning.
“There are a lot of young people who grew up with the ecological movement and we grew up much too quickly to take our responsibilities and clean up after the older generation
,” she told an AFP journalist on Monday. during the action in Stockholm, adding that she and her comrades felt like
"a broken record"
.
Political inaction
Greta Thunberg, aged 21, has become the face of young climate activists.
Its weekly protests, which began in 2018 outside the Swedish parliament, quickly grew into a global youth movement, with large rallies on every continent.
“(Political leaders) did not act.
We continue to go in the wrong direction, emissions continue to increase
,” she said.
“That’s why we feel we have no choice but to try new and different methods to make ourselves heard.”
“We are staying here for the moment
,” she added.
“The Swedish government, as well as all other governments in the world, are not treating the climate crisis as a crisis
,” she said.
“They continue to let short-term economic profits take precedence over people’s lives and the planet
. ”
The Swede, who gained worldwide notoriety with her
“climate school strikes”
started at the age of 15 in Sweden, regularly takes part in such actions where she denounces the lack of public policies in the face of global warming. climatic.
Last year, she was arrested by police or removed from protests in several countries including Sweden, Norway and Germany.
Last month, a British court acquitted her of the charge of disturbing the peace, after a judge ruled that police did not have the power to arrest her and others during from a demonstration in London last year.
“The climate crisis will only get worse and so it is the responsibility of all of us, everyone who has the opportunity to act must do so.
We encourage everyone who can to join us and join the movement for climate justice
,” Greta Thunberg said on Monday.
The same day, the European Environment Agency (EEA) warned that Europe could face
“catastrophic”
situations if it did not take stock of the climate risks it faces, such as extreme heat, drought, forest fires or floods.
Awareness
The first global youth climate day, born from the commitment of the environmental activist through the Fridays for future movement, mobilized thousands of young people around the world on March 15, 2019. According to political science researcher at SciencesPo Joost de Moor, interviewed by AFP in October, the movement and its climate marches have had a global impact.
This
“raised awareness”
.
It also
“contributed to increasing the legitimacy of the development of pro-climate policies, which made it easier for willing politicians to act on this issue
,” noted Joost De Moor, citing the example of Frans Timmermans, former Executive Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Green Deal.
Despite this, climate policies are far from responding to the concerns raised by scientists, says the researcher.