The Swedish climate activist was on trial for protesting outside an oil and gas conference in London in October.

Climate activist Greta Thunberg was acquitted of a public order offense over a protest at an oil and gas conference last year after a London court judge ruled she did not have to stand trial.

District Judge John Law dismissed the case against the 21-year-old Swedish activist and four other activists on Friday on the second day of their trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

He concluded that police had tried to enforce “unlawful” conditions when they were arrested last October at an environmental protest in the British capital.

Thunberg, who became a prominent global activist after his weekly protests outside the Swedish parliament in 2018, was arrested along with dozens of others outside a London hotel where the Energy Intelligence Forum was hosting oil and gas industry leaders.

She and four others aged between 19 and 59 were also accused of failing to comply with a police order to move their protest to a designated area near the conference.

Thunberg pleaded not guilty to violating a public order law in November, along with two protesters from campaign group Fossil Free London (FFL) and two Greenpeace activists.

She also took part in a march in southern England last weekend to protest against the expansion of Farnborough Airport, which is mainly used by private jets.

‘Remember who the real enemy is’

Ahead of the court ruling on Friday, Thunberg complained that a climate strike could not take place in London.

“Although we are the ones standing here, and climate, environmental and human rights activists around the world are targeted, prosecuted, sometimes convicted and given legal penalties for their activism when they act in accordance with science.” she said in a post on the social media platform X.

“We must remember who the real enemy is,” she added.

Week 285. Today we cannot hold a climate strike. I am one of five activists in a trial in London over peaceful protest against an oil conference in October. The aim of the demonstration was to highlight the terrible consequences of the everyday operations of fossil fuel companies.
🧵 pic.twitter.com/hKJmhTK2WO

— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) February 2, 2024

Addressing the five defendants on Friday, Law said: “They are all found not guilty of this offence.”

In his ruling, he also stressed that the conditions imposed on the protesters were “so unclear as to be unlawful,” meaning that “anyone who fails to comply with them is not actually committing a crime.”

British Greenpeace activist Maja Darlington hailed Friday’s ruling as “a victory for the right to protest.”

She told the AFP news agency: “It is ridiculous that more and more climate activists are being tried for peacefully exercising their right to protest, while fossil fuel giants like Shell are allowed to reap billions in profits from the sale of climate-damaging fossil fuels.”

Thunberg and her four co-defendants hugged before leaving the courtroom.