OSLO: Some 150 Extinction Rebellion activists blocked access to the Norwegian energy ministry in Oslo on Monday as part of an ongoing 10-day campaign to protest against the Nordic country’s oil industry.
Norway is Western Europe’s largest producer of crude and natural gas, pumping some four million barrels of oil equivalent per day.
Around 17 campaigners, some with “Ban oil” written on their palms, occupied the reception area of the ministry in central Oslo, while dozens of others demonstrated outside.
“For decades we have written letters, we have spoken out, we have demonstrated. You let us speak but you are not listening,” Hanna Kristina Jakobsen, 22, told the crowd via megaphone.
“This is why we do peaceful civil disobedience now. We are desperate.”
Following the publication of the latest IPCC report on Aug. 9, climate change has become a focal point of debate ahead of an election on Sept. 13, in which Norway’s center-left opposition is expected to defeat the incumbent Conservative-led coalition.
In a separate location, 29 protesters were arrested when they blocked a major road in the city and refused to comply with police orders to move, Oslo police said on Twitter.
Extinction Rebellion is also planning protests elsewhere in Europe, with two weeks of demonstrations starting on Monday in London.
Norway Minister of Petroleum and Energy Tina Bru said that, while she shared the worry over climate change, the protesters were using what she called anti-democratic methods that would not lead to results.
“We’ll never succeed in the fight against climate change if we scrap democracy on the way,” Bru said in a statement.
Earlier this week Extinction Rebellion activists blocked access to an Equinor-run oil export facility on Norway’s west coast, temporarily halting the loading of oil. (Reporting by Gwladys Fouche, Terje Solsvik and Nerijus Adomaitis Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Mark Porter)
Extinction Rebellion occupy Norway’s oil ministry as part of 10-day protest
https://arab.news/652bs
Extinction Rebellion occupy Norway’s oil ministry as part of 10-day protest
- Earlier this week Extinction Rebellion activists blocked access to an Equinor-run oil export facility on Norway’s west coast
- Extinction Rebellion is also planning protests elsewhere in Europe, with two weeks of demonstrations starting on Monday in London
Europeans push back at US over claim they face ‘civilizational erasure’
- “Contrary to what some may say, woke, decadent Europe is not facing civilizational erasure,” Kallas told the conference
MUNICH: A top European Union official on Sunday rejected the notion that Europe faces “civilizational erasure,” pushing back at criticism of the continent by the Trump administration.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas addressed the Munich Security Conference a day after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered a somewhat reassuring message to European allies. He struck a less aggressive tone than Vice President JD Vance did in lecturing them at the same gathering last year but maintained a firm tone on Washington’s intent to reshape the trans-Atlantic alliance and push its policy priorities.
Kallas alluded to criticism in the US national security strategy released in December, which asserted that economic stagnation in Europe “is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilizational erasure.” It suggested that Europe is being enfeebled by its immigration policies, declining birth rates, “censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition” and a “loss of national identities and self-confidence.”
“Contrary to what some may say, woke, decadent Europe is not facing civilizational erasure,” Kallas told the conference. “In fact, people still want to join our club and not just fellow Europeans,” she added, saying she was told when visiting Canada last year that many people there have an interest in joining the EU.
Kallas rejected what she called “European-bashing.”
“We are, you know, pushing humanity forward, trying to defend human rights and all this, which is actually bringing also prosperity for people. So that’s why it’s very hard for me to believe these accusations.”
In his conference speech, Rubio said that an end to the trans-Atlantic era “is neither our goal nor our wish,” adding that “our home may be in the Western hemisphere, but we will always be a child of Europe.”
He made clear that the Trump administration is sticking to its guns on issues such as migration, trade and climate. And European officials who addressed the gathering made clear that they in turn will stand by their values, including their approach to free speech, climate change and free trade.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Saturday that Europe must defend “the vibrant, free and diverse societies that we represent, showing that people who look different to each other can live peacefully together, that this isn’t against the tenor of our times.”
“Rather, it is what makes us strong,” he said.
Kallas said Rubio’s speech sent an important message that America and Europe are and will remain intertwined.
“It is also clear that we don’t see eye to eye on all the issues and this will remain the case as well, but I think we can work from there,” she said.
