London police arrested climate activist Greta Thunberg on Tuesday after she joined several others in protesting outside an oil and gas conference that prevented some delegates from attending the event.
Thunberg, who has become the face of young climate activists globally after staging weekly protests in front of the Swedish parliament in 2018, has been detained by law enforcement personnel or removed from protests in Germany, Norway, and Sweden.
London Police Arrest Greta Thunberg
Video footage showed the young activist wearing a badge with the slogan "Oily Money Out" and standing calmly as two police officers spoke to her. One law enforcement personnel was seen holding Thunberg's arm, and still images showed her being searched and placed in the back of a police van.
The incident comes as Thunberg and her fellow activists protested outside the Intercontinental Hotel in Mayfair, where the Energy Intelligence Forum was hosting a gathering of oil and gas industry leaders, per Reuters.
Thunberg and dozens of others locked arms to obstruct entrances to the conference, and police warned them before moving in to detain them. London's Metropolitan Police did not immediately release a statement following the arrests. However, it posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that they took 20 people into custody in connection with the protests outside the hotel.
The young activist, speaking earlier at the protest, said that the world is drowning in fossil fuels and that people worldwide were suffering and dying from the consequences of the climate crisis caused by these industries.
In a statement, environmental group Greenpeace said that hundreds of demonstrators were involved in the protest in London that prevented delegates from entering the hotel. It added that two of its activists scaled the building and unfurled a giant banner over the entrance that read, "Make Big Oil Pay."
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Protests Against Fossil Fuel
Nuri Syed Corser, an organizer with Fossil Free London, said that there needs to be direct action taken to reclaim the power from the oil elite that have gathered in the region behind closed doors. He said that their only plan is to profit at the expense of future generations, according to CNBC.
Corser also said that arrests such as the one made on Thunberg and others will not deter them because their right to protest is their own. Some delegates scheduled to speak at the Energy Intelligence Forum include Occidental Petroleum CEO Vicki Hollub, Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser, and Shell CEO Wael Sawan.
Before being arrested, Thunberg said they were left with no choice but to put their bodies outside of the conference and physically disrupt the event. She added that this was only the beginning of the fight and said they would continue fighting repeatedly.
Later on, London's Metropolitan Police said that six people were arrested on suspicion of obstructing a highway during the protest; officials added that another 14 were taken into custody on suspicion of disrupting public order while one other was arrested for criminal damage, said Aljazeera.
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