“It is the Norwegian state that is committing the real crime here,” said Greta Thunberg
Oslo:
Environmental activist Greta Thunberg was detained twice on Wednesday during a demonstration for indigenous rights in Oslo, with police removing her and other activists from the Ministry of Finance and later the Ministry of Environment.
Thunberg had joined protesters on Monday demanding the removal of 151 wind turbines from reindeer pastures used by Sami herders in central Norway. They say a transition to green energy should not come at the expense of indigenous rights.
The demonstrators blocked access to some government buildings in recent days, throwing the center-left minority government into a crisis situation and prompting Energy Minister Terje Aasland to call off an official visit to Britain.
Norway’s Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that the turbines, built on two wind farms in Fosen and part of Europe’s largest onshore wind power complex, violate Sami rights under international treaties, but they remain in operation more than 16 months later.
Thunberg, holding a red, blue, yellow and green Sami flag, was lifted and carried away by Treasury police officers as hundreds of protesters chanted slogans.
“We want to make it very clear that it is the Norwegian state that is committing the real crime here, for violating human rights,” she told Reuters minutes before being removed.
Thunberg and other protesters later blocked the entrance to the Ministry of Climate and Environment and were again removed by police.
Thunberg, for many a global standard bearer of the campaign to end the world’s dependence on carbon-based energy, was released along with other activists who had also been detained.
Reindeer herders say the sight and sound of the giant wind power machines frighten their animals and disrupt age-old traditions.
The Department of Energy has said the turbines pose a legal dilemma despite the Supreme Court ruling and hopes to find a compromise, but it could take another year to make a new decision in the Fosen case.
Activists said on Tuesday they had raised nearly $100,000 in recent days to help individual protesters pay police fines.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is being published from a syndicated feed.)
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