Swedish Climate Activist Greta Thunberg Arrested at Energy Conference Protest
On Tuesday, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was detained by police after participating in a protest that disrupted a major energy conference in London.
The protest, named “Oily Money Out” and organized by Fossil Free London and Greenpeace, took place outside the InterContinental London Park Lane hotel on the first day of the Energy Intelligence Forum.
Nuri Syed Corser, an organizer with Fossil Free London, stated, “We need direct action to take back the power from the oil elite that has gathered here today behind closed doors. Their only plan is to profit at our expense.”
Despite the arrests, the organizers emphasized that their right to protest is independent of the government and will not be discouraged.
The Energy Intelligence Forum, a three-day conference attended by major oil and gas executives, politicians, and civil society groups, was previously known as the Oil and Money conference.
Notable speakers at the event include Occidental Petroleum CEO Vicki Hollub, Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser, and Shell CEO Wael Sawan.
During a press conference outside the hotel, Thunberg expressed the necessity of physically disrupting such conferences, stating, “We have no other option but to put our bodies outside this conference and to physically disrupt… We have to continue showing them that they are not going to get away with this.”
Thunberg emphasized that this protest is only the beginning of the fight for climate action and that they will persistently return until real action is taken. She concluded, “We have to reclaim the power and that is what we are doing today. We have to kick oily money out.”
Please note that this is breaking news and updates may follow.
