Before the action, Greta Thunberg received her sentence for her previous roadblocking action June 19th, 2023, where she was physically arrested and charged with disobeying police. This charge carried a maximum sentence of 6 months in jail. She pled not guilty. However, the court found her guilty and fined her 2,500 Swedish krona ($240).

At her hearing, Thunberg provided a kind of necessity defense, to compel the court. Greta made the argument that “her fight against the fossil fuel industry was a form of self-defense due to the existential threat posed by climate change.”
After the court rejected her argument and fined her, she told journalists: “We cannot save the world by playing by the rules.” She then vowed not to back down, but to keep up the fight.

A few hours later she formed another roadblock at the same oil facility where she had blocked oil shipments before.

Again, Thunberg and several other youth activists from the Reclaim the Future movement were charged for refusing to comply with police orders to leave the scene during the protest.

Irma Kjellström, a spokesperson for Reclaim the Future, who attended the protest, said, ”If the court sees our actions of self-defense as a crime, that’s how it is”

Irma added that activists “have to be exactly where the harm is being done.” Earlier this month Irma told CNN: “After having blocked the industry which is burning our future, we have now been charged with a crime. While charges are being brought against us, the real crime continues inside the gates that we blocked.”

At the time of the Malmö port protest, which was organized by the activist group Ta Tillbaka Framtiden, Thunberg wrote on Instagram: "The climate crisis is already a matter of life and death for countless people. We choose to not be bystanders, and instead physically stop the fossil fuel infrastructure. We are reclaiming the future."