LONDON (Reuters) -Climate activist Greta Thunberg arrived at a London court on Thursday to face trial on a public order offence over a protest outside an oil and gas conference last year.
Thunberg, who became a prominent campaigner worldwide after staging weekly protests in front of the Swedish parliament in 2018, was arrested in October after protesting outside a London hotel where the Energy Intelligence Forum was hosting industry leaders.
The 21-year-old is one of five people listed to stand trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday. All five, aged between 19 and 59, have pleaded not guilty to a single offence under the Public Order Act for allegedly failing to move when asked to by police.
A smiling Thunberg made her way through photographers and police officers to chants of “climate protest is not a crime” by environmental activists who were stood outside the court.
The trial will be conducted by a judge without a jury and is expected to take at least two days. If convicted, they would face a maximum fine of 2,500 pounds ($3,160).
Environmental protesters, including from Greenpeace, had said they would demonstrate outside the court in solidarity with the defendants.
($1 = 0.7910 pounds)
(Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Kate Holton)
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