Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg (20) was detained twice by police authorities alongside other demonstrators in Norway's capital city of Oslo on Wednesday, March 1.
Thunberg and other activists, whom the former joined on Monday, have been protesting for removing 151 wind turbines from reindeer pastures used by "Sami" Indigenous herders in Central Norway. The protesting group, including Thunberg, had blocked some government buildings on Wednesday.
The latter, carrying a red, blue, yellow and green Sami flag at the protest, spoke to Reuters before she was carried away by Norwegian police officers, adding:
"We want to make it very clear that it is the Norwegian state that is committing the real crime here, for violating human rights."
Interestingly, pictures from the protest site showcasing Greta Thunberg getting lifted and taken away by Norwegian authorities went viral and instantly grabbed the attention of various netizens, who commented on the matter.
Amidst various takes on Twitter, many called the protest just "another staged" arrest and photoshoot for the 20-year-old.
"Great acting performance": Greta Thunberg gets trolled on Twitter after pictures of her getting detained in Norway go viral
A significant number of users on Twitter didn't wait long to lambast Thunberg by accusing her of staging another arrest.
While one called the arrest a "great acting performance" by the young environmentalist and also sarcastically called for an Oscar for her, another questioned the presence of cameras at the site when the 20-year-old climate change activist was detained by the police.
Another wrote about how they are waiting for "behind the scenes" footage of the incident that will showcase the "whole direction and production" being staged. Plenty of others targeted the Swedish environmental campaigner by calling the clip and pictures "staged." Here are some of the reactions from Twitter.
For those unaware of the ongoing protests, Thunberg and the group were campaigning against two wind farms with 151 wind turbines in Trøndelag's Fosen. Earlier, Norway's supreme court ruled a verdict in favor of Sami people, deeming the wind farms as a violation of the rights of the Indigenous people.
However, the wind turbines are operational to date, which has become the basis of the ongoing conflict between the Sami people and Norwegian state.
The protests by blocking government buildings in the country's capital started last week on February 23 and are still ongoing, which has left the centre-left minority government in a crunch situation. The domenstrations against Norway's government has also prompted Energy Minister Terje Aasland to cancel his official visit to Britain.
As for Greta Thunberg, it is not the first she has found herself in the middle of a protest, and getting clicked while being detained. She was last pictured getting arrested in Germany after she and several other activists rallied protesting the knockdown of a village for the expansion of a coal mine.
However, soon after she was briefly detained, a supposed behind-the-scenes clip of Greta Thunberg smiling during her arrest getting clicked went viral. Many claimed that the clip was enough to prove that the arrest was staged to garner "public attention."