15 November 2023 , 09:55
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Greta Thunberg was seen mobbed by crowds of supporters as she arrived at court this morning for a public order offence hearing.
The climate campaigner was surrounded by Greenpeace and Fossil Free London protesters outside Westminster Magistrates' Court chanting and holding banners reading "Oily Money Out" and "Make Polluters Pay". Police liaison officers also entered the court.
The 20-year-old was arrested on October 17 near the InterContinental Hotel in Mayfair, west London, whilst protesting against the Energy Intelligence Forum taking place inside. Today she pleaded not guilty to breaching Section 14 of the Public Order Act 1986 by failing to leave the highway and continue the protest on the pavement.
Greta Thunberg arrives at Westminster Magistrates Court in London (AFP via Getty Images)Greta has been bailed after being charged and subsequently joined other climate protests in London organised by Fossil Free London - outside JP Morgan in Canary Wharf on October 19, and outside London's Guildhall on Monday. The first two protests were in relation to the continued use of fossil fuels by major oil and gas companies, while the latest focused on the Government's approval of drilling at the Rosebank oil field. She will be appearing alongside 10 other activists who are all charged with the same offence. Greenpeace and Fossil Free London activists are expected to demonstrate outside the court before the hearing.
The Swedish climate activist is facing a public order offence (Getty Images)Before she was detained at the Mayfair protest, Thunberg told journalists outside the hotel: "The world is drowning in fossil fuels. 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."
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Thunberg, from Stockholm, Sweden, has been an active environmental campaigner since the age of 15 and was fined by a Swedish court in July for stopping traffic during an environmental protest at an oil facility.