On Wednesday, a Swedish prosecutor charged climate activist Greta Thunberg with disobeying police after the 20-year-old and her group of activists attempted to block the entrance and exits of Malmo harbor in protest of fossil fuels on June 19, in Malmo, Sweden, and refused to leave when police told them tool.
In a statement, Swedish prosecutors said they "filed charges against a young woman" who "refused to comply with police orders to leave the scene." Swedish Prosecution Authority spokeswoman Annika Colling confirmed the young woman in question was Thunberg.
According to the Daily Mail, the charges have a maximum sentence of six months in jail, but prosecutor Charlotte Ottesen said that the person charged is usually issued a fine.
The environmental activist group which organized the protest, Ta tillbaka framtiden, said in a statement, "After blocking the activities that are burning our future, we are now being charged with criminal offenses."
"While charges are being brought against us, the real crime is going on inside the doors we have blocked," it said.
In an Instagram post at the time Thunberg wrote, "Today, for the third day in a row, young activists from @tatillbakaframtiden have blocked oil tankers in the Malmö oil harbour." She continued, "The climate crisis is already a matter of life and death for countless people. We choose to not be bystanders, and instead, physically stop the fossil fuel infrastructure. We are reclaiming the future."
On June 30, Fox News described the young activist as a "world leader" after she met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelynsky in Kyiv. The purpose of the trip was to meet with the International Working Group on the Environmental Consequences of War to find "mechanisms to bring the aggressor to justice for environmental crimes so that Russia pays in full for the destruction it has caused."
"Ecocide, the destruction of the environment, is a form of warfare," she said in the meeting. "I think we need to connect the dots: The danger, the threat of war, human suffering and ecocide are all connected."
"None of us should ignore the terrible things that are happening in Ukraine, the crimes that Russia is committing here," Thunberg added.
Thunberg began her activism at 14 years old calling for radical changes to world governments' climate policies. She was given TIME magazine's Person of the Year award for her efforts.
