Greta Thunberg, the Swedish climate activist, was arrested in The Hague this Saturday, when she came to participate in a demonstration against fossil fuels organized by the environmental group Extinction Rebellion.
Extinction of the rebellion. While taking part in a demonstration near the A12 motorway in the Netherlands, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was arrested while in the company of members of the environmental group Extinction Rebellion (XR ), on this road linking The Hague to Utrecht, Saturday April 6.
This is not the first time that XR has operated on this artery, which is one of the city’s main streets. On several occasions, the activists have already blocked traffic, before water cannons dislodged them manu militari.
Alternative route
But this Saturday, several dozen police officers made access to the highway impossible for demonstrators, explaining that if the activists tried to join the A12, “violence could be used.” Some protesters, including Greta Thunberg, found an alternative route and managed to block a main road near the highway.
The Swedish activist had joined the group at the start of the demonstration and was chanting when demonstrators were stopped from advancing by police. “It is important to demonstrate today because we are living in a state of global emergency,” she told AFP before her arrest, while the police blocked the demonstrators. “We must do everything to avoid the crisis and save human lives,” she said.
Waving Extinction Rebellion flags, as well as signs reading: “Stop fuel subsidies now!” and “The planet is dying!”, the demonstrators were subsequently locked in a tense confrontation with the police, who had set up a roadblock.
Although benefiting from majority support in Parliament and broad approval among public opinion, the plans to reduce subsidies for fossil fuels “will not be put in place before 2030 or even 2035,” regrets Extinction Rebellion. “The outgoing government acts as if we have all the time in the world, even though the crisis is here,” the group wrote in a message posted on the social network X, formerly Twitter.
