UK police charge climate activist Greta Thunberg after protest

Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg is detained during an Oily Money Out and Fossil Free London protest in London, Britain, October 17, 2023. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne Acquire Licensing Rights

LONDON, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Climate activist Greta Thunberg was charged by British police on Wednesday after she and others were arrested at a protest outside a London hotel where an oil and gas conference was taking place.

Thunberg was charged with a public order offence for failing to comply with conditions that police said had been imposed to prevent "serious disruption to the community, hotel and guests."

She has been released on bail and is due appear in court on Nov. 15.

Twenty-five other individuals were also charged in relation to Tuesday's protest, police added.

Thunberg became the face of young climate activists worldwide after staging weekly protests in front of the Swedish parliament in 2018.

This year, the 20-year-old has been detained by police or removed from protests in Sweden, Norway and Germany.

Video footage from Tuesday showed Thunberg, wearing a badge with the slogan 'Oily Money Out' standing calmly as two police officers spoke to her and still images showed her being placed in the back of a police van.

She had been protesting outside the Intercontinental Hotel in central London where the Energy Intelligence Forum was hosting a gathering of oil and gas industry leaders.

Reporting by Farouq Suleiman; Editing by Sachin Ravikumar

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