On Wednesday, teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg was arrested by Danish police in Copenhagen, Denmark, during a protest in support of Palestine. Thunberg was joined by five others from the group Students Against The Occupation, who were also arrested.
The protest, which involved about 20 students, aimed to block the entrance to a building at the University of Copenhagen. The protesters were demanding an “academic boycott” of Israel by the university. Thunberg has been a vocal critic of Israel, having previously referred to the ongoing war with Hamas as a “genocide” in a 2023 op-ed for the Guardian. She also expressed a desire to “crush Zionism” during a protest in the same year.
The Israel-Hamas war began in 2023 when Hamas militants launched an attack on Israel, resulting in the deaths of over 1,200 people and the taking of 251 hostages into the Gaza Strip. The conflict sparked protests across the United States, some of which turned violent, with some advocating for the dissolution of Israel as a state.
Students Against The Occupation addressed the circumstances of Thunberg’s arrest in a post on Instagram, stating, “This morning, [we] entered an administrative building at the University of Copenhagen, which also houses the rector’s office, to demand an institutional academic boycott of Israeli universities! We were joined by [Thunberg], who was quickly arrested along with other students.”
According to Danish Police, “six people have been charged with breach of domestic peace and have been released again.” However, the identities of those arrested, including Thunberg, have not been officially disclosed.
This is not the first time Thunberg has been arrested for her activism. In July 2023, she was arrested during a climate protest outside the oil port of Malmö, Sweden, and was later fined for disobeying police.
Students Against The Occupation has been actively protesting in various ways since the conflict in Palestine began. In June, they organized a hunger strike, and in May, they set up an encampment at the university.
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In a press release, the group stated, “While the situation in Palestine only gets worse, [the University of Copenhagen] continues cooperation with academic institutions in Israel. We do not have three more years to wait for UCPH’s management to do the only right thing. We are forced to act. We are occupying the central administration building with one demand: ACADEMIC BOYCOTT NOW!”
The Greta Thunberg Foundation and Students Against The Occupation have not responded to requests for comment at this time.