Fact check: Greta Thunberg's detention at protest in Germany was not staged, she wasn't arrested

Sudiksha Kochi, USA TODAY
·3 min read
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The claim: Greta Thunberg arrest in Germany was staged

A Jan. 18 Instagram post (direct link, archived link) shows climate change activist Greta Thunberg with two policemen next to her. One holds her by the arm until police eventually escort Thunberg away.

The post also shows a clip of a Black person shoveling mud and dirt into a bag that a child later carries on his back.

"So-called climate activist Greta Thunberg gets fake arrested at a coal mine in Germany," reads the post's caption. "Meanwhile, African kids are forced to mine for rare-Earth minerals like cobalt, zinc, lithium, and more. So let's not virtue signal over being 'green.'"

The post generated over 25,000 likes in less than a week. Similar claims about the arrest being staged amassed thousands of interactions on Facebook.

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Our rating: False

A German police spokesperson told USA TODAY the agency's interaction with Thunberg was not staged. And Thunberg was detained but was not officially arrested.

Thunberg detained during a protest

Thunberg was not arrested during the incident in question, but she was detained by German police on Jan. 17 at the open-pit coal mine of Garzweiler 2 while protesting against the demolition of a village, according to Reuters.

Several protesters, including Thunberg, stood at the brink of an open pit with a sharp dropoff, as USA TODAY previously reported. Police said people were prohibited from being in that area. Thunberg and the group were escorted out of the area, and she was placed in the back of a police vehicle, German media outlet Bild reported, according to a Google translation.

The interaction was not staged, Dana Zimmermann, a spokesperson for the Aachen police department, told USA TODAY in an email. Aachen is a city near the Garzweiler coal mine.

Police officers carry Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg away from the edge of the Garzweiler II opencast lignite mine during a protest action by climate activists after the clearance of Luetzerath, Germany, Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023. After the eviction of Luetzerath ended on Sunday, coal opponents continued their protests on Tuesday at several locations in North Rhine-Westphalia.

"We would never give ourselves to make such recordings," Zimmermann said. "We are not the extras for the staging of Greta Thunberg."

Zimmermann also said that the entire group of people, including Thunberg, had to give their personal details to the police. This is the second time she was detained at the site, CNN reported.

Zimmermann said Thunberg was not arrested, and no charges were filed against her.

Fact check: Satirical claim that Greta Thunberg's global warming conference was canceled due to cold weather

As shown in the Instagram clip, the police officers and Thunberg wait for a few minutes before leaving the area.

Christian Wernicke, a journalist from German news outlet Süddeutsche Zeitung who was at the scene, told BBC that officers were "deciding how they would proceed with the identity check and waiting to take Greta to the police vehicle."

USA TODAY reached out to the social media users who shared the claim for comment.

Lead Stories, PolitiFact and Reuters also debunked the claim.

Our fact-check sources:

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: False claim that Greta Thunberg's detainment was staged

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