Greta Thunberg charged over oil summit protest

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.

Metropolitan Police said Wednesday (Thursday AEDT) 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 November 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 (Friday AEDT), features speakers including the chief executives of Shell, Saudi Arabia’s Aramco and Norway’s Equinor, as well as the UK'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 recent approval of drilling for oil in the North Sea, off the Scottish coast.

Thunberg inspired a global youth movement demanding stronger efforts to fight climate change after staging weekly protests outside the Swedish parliament starting in 2018. She was recently fined by a Swedish court for disobeying police during an environmental protest in Sweden.