UK court dismisses case against Greta Thunberg and other activists over London protest

A UK court on Friday (Feb 2) cleared climate activist Greta Thunberg, along with four other protesters, of a public order offence over staging a demonstration outside an oil and gas conference in 2023.

The London court judge denounced the conditions imposed by police at the time Thunberg was arrested calling them "unlawful" and said that she had no case to answer.

District Judge John Law, dismissing the cases against the prominent Swedish campaigner and four other activists arrested, ruled that police stationed in London at the time of the environmental protest in October 2023, attempted to impose "unlawful" conditions before officers arrested dozens of protesters.

"The prosecution evidence is insufficient for any reasonable court to properly convict and I exercise my discretion to acquit all five defendants," Law said, to applause and cheers from a packed public gallery.

Addressing the five defendants, he added: "You are all found not guilty of this offence."

Thunberg was charged with a public order offence after she was detained at a protest outside an annual gathering of energy industry figures in London.

In November last year, she had pleaded not guilty to violating a public order law alongside two demonstrators from the Fossil Free London (FFL) campaign group and two Greenpeace activists.

The 21-year-old campaigner and other defendants had faced a maximum fine of £2,500 ($3,177) if convicted.

Her lawyer, Raj Chada, said the case against them had been "rightly dismissed", arguing that the police stipulations "disproportionately interfered with our client's rights to free speech".

He added: "The government should stop prosecuting peaceful protesters and instead find ways to tackle the climate crisis."

Thunberg charged by UK police after being held over climate protest

Thunberg was charged with "failing to comply with a condition" by the UK police levied under Britain's Public Order Act that dealt with public assemblies and was released on bail.

London police said they imposed "conditions to prevent disruption to the public" after officers arrived at the protest site, which were then breached and further prompted the arrests.

"The protesters were asked to move from the road onto the pavement, which would enable them to continue with their demonstration without breaching the conditions," a police statement had said in October.

Several hundred protestors had gathered outside the InterContinental London Park Lane hotel during the "Oily Money Out" demonstration, organised by pressure groups Fossil Free London and Greenpeace, blocking all entrances to the venue.

Banging drums, the protesters chanted, "Stop the oil, stop the gas." The protesters argued that most industry profit is ploughed back into dirty energy that worsens climate change.

"Oil companies have racked up billions upon billions of profit, breaking records across the board last year. Oily CEOs took home multi-million-pound pay cheques," Fossil Free London said in a statement.

"The overwhelming majority of this money is going straight back into fossil fuel expansion, not the green energy they claim to support," the statement added.

(With inputs from agencies)