2023-10-12 09:43:04
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Dozens of activists blocked the entrance to one of the main operators of a wind farm in Norway on Thursday that they say hinders the indigenous Sami community’s right to herd reindeer.
At the center of the dispute are the 151 turbines of Europe’s largest onshore wind farm, located in the Fosen district of central Norway, about 450 kilometers (280 miles) north of the capital, Oslo. Activists argue that the transition to renewable energy should not come at the expense of indigenous peoples’ rights.
They have repeatedly demonstrated against the continuity of the wind farm after the Supreme Court of Norway ruled in October 2021 that the construction of the turbines had violated the rights of the Sami, who for centuries used those lands for reindeer herding. .
On Thursday, activists staged a sit-in outside the building of Statkraft, the state-owned company that operates 80 of Fosen’s turbines, in Oslo.
”We hope to block all visible entrances,” activist Gina Gylver told local newspaper Dagsavisen.
Police spokesman Sven Martin Ege told Norwegian news agency NTB that about 100 protesters said they wanted to prevent Statkraft employees from entering their jobs, after which it was decided they would work from home.
On Wednesday night, a group of about 20 Sami, many of them dressed in traditional costumes, protested in a central hallway of Norway’s parliament. The police evicted them after they refused to leave on their own. Hundreds more people gathered at the main entrance to the chamber.
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store acknowledged “continued human rights violations” and the government has repeatedly apologized for failing to act despite the Supreme Court ruling. Energy Minister Terje Aasland has said that the demolition of all Fosen wind turbines now, as the protesters are now demanding, was not appropriate.
Greta Thunberg joined the Oslo protest later on Thursday.
“We cannot have renewable energy that violates human rights,” the prominent Swedish environmental activist said, according to NTB. “Statkraft and the other owners must step forward and demand a solution to the Fosen case. so that green energy is developed appropriately in the future without violating the rights of indigenous peoples.”
1697105174
#Activists #protest #wind #farm #pastoral #lands #Norway