Thunberg said the wind farm violates the rights of indigenous Sami people to herd their reindeer, as the sight and sound of the turbines scares the animals
Indigenous and environmental activists, including Greta Thunberg, blocked access to several Norwegian government ministries on Tuesday, expanding a protest demanding the removal of wind turbines from reindeer pastures.
Norway’s supreme court in 2021 ruled that two wind farms built at Fosen in central Norway violated Sami human rights under international conventions, but the turbines remain in operation more than 16 months later.
Police began removing a handful of demonstrators from outside the building housing most of the finance ministry – a new target for demonstrators – while over a hundred demonstrators chanted “C, S, V”, the abbreviation of a 1970s Sami slogan meaning “Show Sami spirit”.
The removals took place on Supreme Court Square, across the street from the court that ruled in favour of reindeer herders in the Fosen case.
Meanwhile, campaigners pressed on with a demonstration at the nearby energy ministry, which also houses the transport and family ministries and parts of the finance ministry.
Thunberg, an advocate for ending the world’s reliance on carbon-based power, has argued that governments should not allow a transition to green energy to come at the expense of Indigenous Sami rights.
“They should have seen it coming for violating human rights,” Thunberg told Reuters when asked about the need for the protests, while she was sitting outside the energy ministry.
One of the campaigners said they would “close down the state, ministry by ministry” for as long as necessary.
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“The state has let the Sami people down,” Ella Marie Haetta Isaksen told Reuters.
“I hope some ministers will soon understand that the only way out of this human rights violation
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