Greta Thunberg due in London court after climate protest arrest

LONDON - Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg is to appear in a London court on Wednesday after her arrest during a protest at an annual gathering of energy industry figures.

The 20-year-old activist -- a key face of the movement to fight climate change -- was among 26 people charged with a public order offence in the Oct 17 demonstration in London.

She was released on bail and will now appear for a plea hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court in central London.

Activists from Greenpeace and Fossil Free London, which organised the initial protest, are expected to hold a demonstration during her appearance.

Several hundred protesters had gathered outside the InterContinental London Park Lane hotel during the "Oily Money Out" demonstration, blocking all entrances to the venue.

Maja Darlington, a campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said the group's activists joined the demonstration to send "a clear and peaceful message" to the oil bosses attending the conference.

Before her arrest, Thunberg had criticised "closed door" agreements struck between politicians and representatives of the oil and gas industry.

London police said they imposed "conditions to prevent disruption to the public" after officers arrived at the protest, which were then breached, prompting the arrests.

After her arrest Thunberg was taken away by two police officers and put into the back of a police van outside the Energy Intelligence Forum, after joining a mass protest.

Thunberg came under fire for wearing a black and white Palestinian scarf and urging a "ceasefire now" during a climate protest in Amsterdam.

Her speech at the event on Sunday was interrupted by a man who tried to snatch a microphone from her, saying he had come for a climate protest, not for her other views.

After the man was removed by security officers, Thunberg began chanting, along with the crowd, "no climate justice on occupied land".

Thunberg, who started the so-called "School Strike for Climate" movement as a teenager, was also fined by a court in Sweden earlier in October.

It followed the court convicting her for having resisted arrest during a July protest that blocked traffic. - AFP