Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg was arrested in Copenhagen on Wednesday during a protest against the war in Gaza and the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet published a photo showing Thunberg handcuffed in front of a building at the University of Copenhagen, occupied by several activists from the group Students Against Israeli Occupation.
“This morning we arrested six protesters who briefly blocked the entrance to the University of Copenhagen buildings. Charges have been filed against all six people for breaking and entering. We are still at the scene, which is now calm,” police in the Danish capital said in a statement.
The aim of the action in which the climate activist participated was to protest the Danish institution’s collaboration with other Israeli universities. Many European universities have protested and demanded that their rectorates sever ties with Israeli universities in recent months, whether in the context of mobility program agreements or funding pacts.
“Students against occupation and I are in an administrative building at the University of Copenhagen,” Thunberg shared on her Instagram account with a video. The founder of the climate movement Fridays for Future (FFF) has in recent months shown her support for the Palestinian cause and her opposition to Israel’s actions following the Hamas attacks last October.
“When UN experts urge the world to act to prevent genocide, as human beings we have a responsibility. Demanding an end to this violence is a matter of basic humanity, and we call on all who can to do so. Silence is complicity. “We cannot be neutral in the face of genocide,” he wrote in an article in December.
Thunberg has worn the traditional black and white Palestinian headscarf at several recent protests, including when she marched through the streets of Malmö, Sweden, in May against Israel’s participation in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.
The young woman has already been arrested several times. In January 2023, a photograph went viral in which several German police officers were carrying her after an environmental protest. Also in March of the same year, she was expelled from a demonstration in Norway. Just a few months ago, in April, she was also arrested in the Dutch city of The Hague, after trying to block a highway to protest against fossil fuel subsidies.
