Greta Thunberg charged after blocking entrance to hotel during climate protest

18 October 2023 , 11:29

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Greta Thunberg, 20, being led away by police officers at the protest yesterday (Image: AFP via Getty Images)

Greta Thunberg is among 26 people charged over a climate protest outside a hotel in London.

Fossil Free London organised the protest yesterday to disrupt the Energy Intelligence Forum, which was meeting at the InterContinental hotel in Park Lane, near Hyde Park. The activists attempted to block access to the hotel by sitting and standing on the pavement by the entrance.

Thunberg was later seen being led away by officers and placed in a police van with around 10 others following her involvement in the protest. In a statement issued today, the Metropolitan Police said the 20-year-old, whose address was given as Dorset, has been charged with obstructing the highway under Section 14 of the Public Order Act.

She and others were bailed to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on November 15. A force spokesperson said: "We have charged 26 people after a protest outside a hotel in central London. Officers responded to the protest on the morning of Tuesday, 17 October and imposed conditions to prevent disruption to the public.

Thunberg seen standing inside a police van (AFP via Getty Images)

"The protestors were asked to move from the road onto the pavement, which would enable them to continue with their demonstration without breaching the conditions." The climate activists gathered to demand the oil executives remove their money from national politics.

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They say that fossil fuel companies are deliberately slowing the global energy transition to renewables in order to make more profit, highlighting how this year's UN climate conference president is also the CEO of an oil company. Addressing journalists outside the hotel prior to her arrest, Thunberg said: "The world is drowning in fossil fuels.

Thunberg during the anti-oil protest outside the Intercontinental Hotel (Chris J Ratcliffe for Greenpeace)

"Our hopes and dreams and lives are being washed away by a flood of greenwashing and lies. It has been clear for decades that the fossil fuel industries were well aware of the consequences of their business models, and yet, they have done nothing. The opposite - they have actively delayed, distracted and denied the causes of the climate crisis and spread doubts about their own engagement in it."

Dozens of protesters blocked Hamilton Place at both ends with banners and pink umbrellas with eyes painted on, shouting "oily money out" and "cancel the conference", while others lit yellow and pink smoke flares. A white fence surrounded the hotel entrance keeping protesters out while police smuggled conference attendees through the crowd of chanting activists and a samba band.

Thunberg shouts slogans with fellow protesters outside the hotel (AFP via Getty Images)

Thunberg went on to say: "We cannot let this continue. The elite of the oil and money conference, they have no intention of transition. Their plan is to continue this destructive search of profits. That is why we have to take direct action to stop this and to kick oil money out of politics. We have no other option but to put our bodies outside this conference and to physically disrupt.

"And we have to do that every time, we have to continue showing them that they are not going to get away with this." During the demonstration, activists from Greenpeace abseiled down from the roof of the hotel to unfurl a banner reading "make big oil pay", while a strong wind billowed the message and the protesters against the side of the building.

A police officer speaking to Thunberg (AFP via Getty Images)

Maja Darlington, a campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said: "Oil bosses are toasting each other in a luxury hotel and plotting how to make even larger profits, while millions struggle to rebuild after a summer of extreme weather. Big oil is profiting from humanity's loss and those who have done the least to cause climate change are being forced to pay the price."

Speakers at the conference include the chief executives of Saudi Arabia's Aramco and Norway's Equinor, the German ambassador to the UK and Graham Stuart, UK energy security and net zero minister. The activists said they will continue their actions throughout the planned Energy Intelligence Forum, which is due to last over the next few days.

Katie Weston