Greta Thunberg Leads Protest at Maersk Over Emissions, Israel Ties
Environmental group Den Grønne Ungdomsbevægelse (the Green Youth Movement) gathered in protest of the subsidiary's shipping of oil and gas and overall carbon emissions, as well as allegations that the company transports weapons to Israel.
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Maersk has repeatedly denied the activists' second claim.
'We demand that Maersk take the just and necessary action, whether it concerns climate collapse or the genocide in Palestine,' said Thunberg in a statement.
For Tuesday's demonstration, the protesters brought cleaning products with them, which they used to wash the walls and floor of the building with the intent to criticize Maersk's alleged greenwashing.
'We won't finish our cleaning just yet,' said Green Youth Movement activist Gustav Hertz Holm in a statement. 'We'll stay here as long as we can. We'll have to force Maersk to put human life and nature above short-term profit and demand that they stop transporting oil and gas. At a minimum, Maersk could transport it to Gaza, where they lack fuel to sanitize water and run hospitals.'
Police broke up the Copenhagen protest. No arrests were made.
Tuesday's protest was a part of a wider movement called 'May:hem Against Maersk' that started May 5 and took place across several cities Europe including Copenhagen, Aarhus, Paris, Helsinki, Rotterdam, Stockholm and Berlin. The last demonstration will take place Thursday.
'Maersk says they are contributing to the green transition, while they are doing the opposite,' activist Freya Skriver of the Green Youth Movement, said in a statement. 'Not only do they facilitate unsustainable overconsumption with their shipping and emit a surreal amount of CO2, they are also still shipping oil and gas around the world, which is of course unacceptable in the midst of a climate collapse.'
Another separate activist group of roughly 30 demonstrators held protests blocking the lobby of Maersk's Rotterdam office on Wednesday morning as part of the 'Mask Off Maersk' campaign. The protesting group, known as Geef Tegengas, demanded the company halt the transport of weapons to and from Israel.
Demonstrators chained themselves to the building's access gates and created noise to 'disrupt Maersk's activities and make their presence known,' said spokesperson Sterre van de Berg.
In April, Geef Tegengas staged similar protests, blocking the Port of Rotterdam's rail freight lines in a series of protests.
The recent activity from both groups follows a protest on Feb. 24, when over 1,000 European activists blocked entry to Maersk's headquarters in Copenhagen. Thunberg was among 20 who were arrested after the demonstration.
In March, Maersk shareholders voted down two investor proposals to disclose its human rights due diligence and stop shipments of arms to Israel.
The second claim was denied on Maersk's contention that it only carries military equipment to the country, not weapons or ammunition.
A Denmark-based investigative publication DanWatch obtained 2,000 bills of lading to find that Maersk had transported shipments from military vehicle manufacturer Oshkosh Defense, including armored personnel carriers, combat vehicles and missile casings—but not weaponry.
Mask Off Maersk, which is supported by the Palestinian Youth Movement, claims the container shipping giant has carried supply chain equipment and other military materials for F-35 jets from a Lockheed Martin U.S. Air Force plant in Fort Worth, Texas to Israel's Nevatim Air Base.
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