Following Greta Thunberg’s arrest at a coal mine protest on Tuesday, conspiracy theories started rapidly speculating online that the whole thing was “staged.” The German police who arrested the climate activist would like you to, kindly, knock it off.
While Thunberg is a noted public figure, who recently garnered headlines thanks to her brutal takedown of alleged sex trafficker Andrew Tate, the officers involved in her detainment want to make it clear that she received no special treatment. Granted, in the arrest video, Thunberg can be seen smiling while being physically carried away and posing for photos next to the officer, but there’s a simple explanation.
First of all, Thunberg did not resist arrest and the German officers were mostly concerned for her safety. Thunberg and other activists were detained for wandering too close to the sharp cliff of the mine. As for her standing around and posing for photos, officers were simply waiting for a car to arrive to take her away from the site. More importantly, the police were allowing journalists free reign of the protest. Via BBC News:
Christian Wernicke, a journalist from German news outlet Süddeutsche Zeitung who was there at the time, said the police officers “were deciding how they would proceed with the identity check and waiting to take Greta to the police vehicle.”
“My impression was that there was confusion. Greta was not the first protester who had been taken away from the sit-in,” Mr Wernicke added.
Wernicke also confirmed the German police’s assertions that the whole thing was actually very “mundane.”
“I’ve seen different reactions to the video,” Wernicke told the BBC. “Some say that the footage looks like the police are setting her up to embarrass her and others say that it is all part of some propaganda. People are interpreting and using this footage for their own motives.”
(Via BBC News)