Climate activist Greta Thunberg was arrested for the third time in six months on Saturday when she and 400 fellow protesters blocked the A12 motorway in The Netherlands.
“We are in a planetary emergency, and we are not going to stand by and let people lose their lives and livelihood and be forced to become climate refugees when we can do something,” Thunberg told the crowd before she was detained. The activist was ultimately among 400 who were placed under arrest for blocking the key roadway in The Hague.
Video footage shows Thunberg being carried away by two police officers as the crowd cheered and chanted climate slogans.
Saturday’s incident marked the third time Thunberg has been arrested for participating in climate change protests since October. She was most recently arrested during a demonstration outside the Swedish Parliament building.
Thunberg has made a career off of climate change activism since she spoke at a UN climate event in 2019. “This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you!” a scowling, then teenaged Thunberg shouted at the time.
“You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!”
Thunberg has remained in the public spotlight ever since the speech. Over the past five years, she has traveled across Europe for climate change demonstrations in every EU member state. She has also frequently dined with high-profile politicians across the Western world, including Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel and Barack Obama.
