A man grabbed the microphone from Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg while she was speaking at an event in Amsterdam and accused her of delivering a pro-Palestinian message at a climate rally in the Dutch capital. The man jumped onto the stage and interrupted the activist after she invited a Palestinian and an Afghan woman to speak.
The man alleged that Thunberg had turned the march into a political event. “Came here for a climate demonstration, not a political view”, he said as he approached the 20-year-old climate activist. He pulled the microphone from Thunberg, threw it to the ground, and walked off the stage.
Thunberg, at the event, said “As a climate justice movement, we have to listen to the voices of those who are being oppressed and those who are fighting for freedom and for justice. Otherwise, there can be no climate justice without international solidarity”.
She was wearing a traditional Palestinian scarf known as Keffiyeh.
Thunberg asked the man to “calm down” and after he was removed from the stage, she joined the crowd in chanting “no climate justice on occupied land”.
According to BBC, the crowd chanted “Palestine will be free” before the mic grabbing incident. Another activist had to cut her speech short in the same rally after she said, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, according to news agency Reuters.
The man, whose identity was not immediately clear, was wearing a jacket with the name of a group called Water Natuurlijk.
Thunberg’s earlier “Stand with Gaza” social media post had stirred debate and even invited a response from the Israeli army. Israel’s Education Ministry said that it will be removing any references to Thunberg in school curriculums.
Ahead of the general election in the Netherlands, tens of thousands of protesters marched through Amsterdam demanding immediate action against climate change. According to police, around 70,000 people joined the march, including Thunberg and former EU climate chief Frans Timmermans.
Vikram Sharma is a globe-trotting journalist with a global perspective on international events. His articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing insights into the world’s most pressing challenges.
