Dutch Police Arrest Greta Thunberg Twice On Same Day

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was detained twice by Dutch police at a demonstration in the Netherlands on Saturday.

Before she was arrested for blocking roads near the Dutch parliament. Thunberg told journalists she was protesting because the world was ‘facing an existential crisis’. When asked if she was worried about being arrested, Thunberg said “Why should I be?”

RT reports: The incidents occurred on Saturday, when a large crowd of Extinction Rebellion demonstrators tried to block the A12 highway in The Hague. A heavy police presence, including officers on horseback, prevented the activists from tying up the highway, but a small group broke away and sat down on a main road.

The 21-year-old Thunberg was among the protesters, and a clip posted on social media shows two police picking her up by the arms and carrying her to a bus filled with other detained people. Reuters reported that Thunberg was held for a short time before being released, and she then was detained again after joining a group blocking a road leading to the railway station. 

Extinction Rebellion claims to have blocked the A12 highway dozens of times since 2022 in protests against fossil-fuel subsidies. Saturday’s demonstration called for lawmakers to halt subsidies and tax breaks for companies with ties to fossil fuels, such as oil major Shell and airline KLM.

“We are here because we’re facing an existential crisis,” Thunberg told Dutch broadcaster RTL Nieuws. “We are in a planetary emergency, and we are not going to stand by and let people lose their lives and livelihood and, of course, become climate refugees when we can do something.”