While headlines were full of climate activist Greta Thunberg being detained by German police, footage apparently from the scene has been said to imply the event was more photo-opportunity than a brush with the law.
Greta Thunberg was reportedly detained temporarily by German police in North Rhine-Westphalia on Tuesday after taking part in a climate demonstration in the condemned town of Lützerath, which has been occupied by green agenda protesters trying to stop the expansion of a nearby coal mine.
It is not the first time that the Swedish activist was confronted by police in the region, with Thunberg being hauled away from a similar protest by law enforcement officials on Sunday after refusing to comply with the orders of authorities.
According to a report by Der Spiegel, despite it initially being reported that the Swede was actually arrested by police for taking part in the protest, it was later clarified that she was only detained pending identification.
This was seemingly confirmed by Thunberg herself on social media on Wednesday, with the activist telling her followers that she and other protesters were quickly released by police.
“We were kettled by police and then detained but were let go later that evening,” the activist wrote.
Was @GretaThunberg arrested or was it a photoshoot? Hard to tell from this clip. https://t.co/oqAHGF1ccX
— Julia Hartley-Brewer (@JuliaHB1) January 18, 2023
However, others online have raised questions about the incident after footage of Thunberg with North Rhine-Westphalia police appeared online, with some alleging that the footage seems to show a rather more contrived version of events, with officers said to be posing in a mock-detention with a laughing Thunberg for waiting photographers.
“Was [Greta Thunberg] arrested or was it a photoshoot?” TalkTV pundit Julia Hartley-Brewer asked. “Hard to tell from this clip.”
Others went a step further, outright branding the event as a “fake arrest“, although this claim was made without evidence beyond the circulation of the video clips that appeared online.
“The whole thing looks like a spectacle,” one German print newspaper, Junge Freiheit, wrote. “[T]he police officers are waiting for the photographers to give the signal for the action. Thunberg herself giggles and laughs. Then officials walk a few meters with the young woman in the direction of police vehicles before the images break off.”
Breitbart Europe has contacted police in North Rhine-Westphalia for comment, and an insight into their version of events.
Greta Thunberg Hauled Away from Climate Protest by German Police https://t.co/901lxDCvyg
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) January 17, 2023
The strange detention of Greta Thunberg is only the latest chapter in Germany’s most recent green agenda scandal, which has seen numerous green agenda protesters descend on the small village of Lützerath to protest fossil fuels.
With the hamlet itself earmarked for destruction so a nearby coal mine can be expanded, activists have expressed fear that the increased use of coal in Germany could jeopardise the country’s climate commitments, with some violently attacking police in the hopes of preventing further mining.
However, the power company at the centre of the controversy, RWE, has insisted that the coal mine must be expanded to ensure Germany’s future energy security, with a combination of the war in Ukraine and Germany’s previous green agenda policies seriously hampering the nation’s ability to fuel itself.
This explanation does not seem to have been heeded by many green activists in Germany however, with protests having since spread outside Lützerath over the country’s renewed use of coal.
Coal Mine Protest Attended by Greta Thunberg Sees Clashes Between Climate Activists and Cops https://t.co/dIA7STpz1G
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) January 14, 2023
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