Greta Thunberg, other activists block Norway energy ministry to protest against wind turbines

Environmental campaigner Greta  Thunberg  and dozens of other activists on Monday (February 27) blocked entrances to Norway’s energy ministry, protesting against wind turbines built on land traditionally used by indigenous Sami reindeer herders. Several protesters have been camping out outside the ministry and overnight some protesters were removed from inside the ministry lobby where they had been since Thursday (February 23). Norway’s supreme court in 2021 ruled that two wind farms built in central Norway violated Sami rights under international conventions, but the turbines remain in operation more than 16 months later. “I am here to support the struggle for human rights and indigenous rights,”  Thunberg  told Reuters while sitting outside the ministry’s main entrance with other demonstrators. “The Norwegian state is violating human rights and that is completely unacceptable and we need to stand in solidarity in this struggle,” she said. Reindeer herders in the Nordic country say the sight and sound of the giant wind power machinery frighten their animals and disrupt age-old traditions. They are demanding that the turbines be torn down. “Reindeer pasturage is totally crucial for reindeer keeping and reindeer keeping is very important to Sami culture but also a crucial livelihood and an incredibly important tradition for our people,” said Sami activist and musician Ella Marie Haetta Isaksen who was at the protest. The government has said the ultimate fate of the wind farms is a complex legal and political quandary despite the supreme court ruling and is hoping to find a compromise. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook ,  Twitter  and  Instagram .