Greta Thunberg Detained During Anti-Wind Farm Protest In Norway: Why Was She Opposing Them?

Environmental activist Greta Thunberg and several other protesters were forcibly removed Wednesday during a demonstration against wind turbines that were set up on indigenous land in Norway.

The protest began last week against two wind farms built on pastures used by the indigenous Sami community for grazing reindeer in the Fosen region of central Norway. Thunberg joined the protest Sunday and was seen blocking access to several ministries this week with fellow campaigners.

The 20-year-old Swedish activist and other anti-wind farm protesters sat in front of Oslo's finance ministry Wednesday and blocked the entrance before police officers carried Thunberg away.

Around 10 other protesters were also removed.

" ... 10 protesters have been moved from the entrance to the Ministry of Finance. Among the protesters who was moved away today was Greta Thunberg," Oslo police said, as quoted by Politico.

"We want to make it very clear that it is the Norwegian state that is committing the real crime here, for violating human rights," Thunberg told Reuters minutes before police officers carried her away.

Wind energy is part of Norway's transition to green energy. However, Thunberg said this transition should not come at the cost of indigenous people's rights.

"Indigenous rights, human rights, must go hand-in-hand with climate protection and climate action. That can't happen at the expense of some people. Then it is not climate justice," Thunberg told Reuters.

The wind farms in the Fosen region are owned by Norwegian energy companies Statkraft and TrønderEnergi, German utility Stadtwerke Muenchen, and Denmark's Nordic Wind Power DA. They are made up of 151 wind turbines and are among Europe's largest onshore wind farms. They can reportedly power about 100,000 homes.

Members of the Sami community – the only indigenous group recognized within the European Union – say the wind turbines are infringing on reindeer grazing lands and jeopardizing their centuries-old tradition of animal husbandry.

"The constructions are stealing the reindeer's grazing land," Maja Kristine Jåma, a reindeer herder and Sámi politician, told CNN.

Jåma also said the infrastructure around the wind farm, including roads, affects the animals and "disturbs them a lot."

The Sami people have been in a long-running fight to restore the reindeer grazing land and remove the wind turbines, which stand at a height of about 285 feet. Campaigners saw a victory in October 2021 when Norway's Supreme Court ruled that the two wind farms violated Sami rights under international conventions.

In what was then seen as a landmark ruling, the court said the wind farm permits were invalid because the turbines violated the protected cultural rights of Sami families to practice their culture of reindeer herding. However, the court did not say anything about what should be done to the wind turbines, which still operate more than a year later.

"The Supreme Court has considered that the permits that have been granted are invalid, but it does not follow from the judgment that the wind turbines must be taken down," Elisabeth Sæther, state secretary in the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum, told CNN.

"So far, the government has not even acknowledged the Supreme Court's ruling on the violation of human rights or offered an apology to the Reindeer Sámi," Eirik Larsen, a political advisor to the Sámi Parliament in Norway, told the outlet.

Norwegian authorities said they hadn't taken any action yet because they were hoping to find a way for the Sami people to coexist with the wind turbines.

Sæther also said the government has had conversations with reindeer herders and the Sámi Parliament to find ways "for reindeer herding and the wind turbines to operate side by side."

As Norway executes its green energy transition plans, protesters say indigenous people's cultures are being threatened even though they haven't contributed to the problem of climate change in the first place.

"The Sami did not cause the climate crisis, and their traditional ways of life - which they have practiced for millennia - should not be jeopardized by efforts to resolve it," said Steve Trent, CEO and founder of the nonprofit Environmental Justice Foundation.

"Indigenous Peoples are asked to give up their lands for the wind industry, mining, and other purposes to save the world from a crisis mainly created by others," Larsen added.