°µÍø½ûÇøal activist Greta Thunberg shouts slogans during the Oily Money Out protest outside the InterContinental Hotel, in London, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. Thunberg was detained by British police on Tuesday alongside other climate activists who gathered outside a central London hotel to disrupt a meeting of oil and gas company executives. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
°µÍø½ûÇøal activist Greta Thunberg shouts slogans during the Oily Money Out protest outside the InterContinental Hotel, in London, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. Thunberg was detained by British police on Tuesday alongside other climate activists who gathered outside a central London hotel to disrupt a meeting of oil and gas company executives. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
LONDON (AP) — Climate activist Greta Thunberg has been charged with a public order offense after being arrested at a demonstration against an oil and gas industry conference in London.
The Metropolitan Police force said Wednesday that the 20-year-old Swedish campaigner was one of 26 people charged after protesters gathered outside the luxury InterContinental Hotel during the Energy Intelligence Forum. Thunberg was among dozens of protesters who chanted “oily money out†and sought to block access to the hotel on Tuesday.
Thunberg was detained and taken to a police station before being released overnight, police said.
She was charged with breaching a section of the Public Order Act that allows police to impose limits on public assemblies and was released on bail until a Nov. 15 hearing at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court. The other protesters facing charges were also allowed bail.
The three-day conference, which runs until Thursday, features speakers including the chief executives of Shell, Saudi Arabia’s Aramco and Norway’s Equinor, as well as the U.K.’s energy security minister.
The protesters accuse fossil fuel companies of deliberately slowing the global energy transition to renewables in order to make more profit. They also oppose the British government’s , off the Scottish coast.
Thunberg inspired a global youth movement demanding stronger efforts to fight after staging weekly protests outside the Swedish Parliament starting in 2018. She was by a Swedish court for disobeying police during an environmental protest in Sweden.
