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In rush hour traffic Monday morning, Extinction Rebellion weather action blocked a major thoroughfare below the Palace, at the Karl Johans / Fredriks gate intersection.
The activists had been firmly chained together, and the police initially ordered them to move. When they refused to comply with this order, many of the activists were taken away by the police.
Around the same time, other Extinction Rebellion activists acted outside the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Ministry of Oil and Energy.
A total of 53 people were brought in, according to police.
Coordinated actions in Oslo
19,000 i bot
One of those brought in was Dag Bergesen Kolstø, the spokesman for Monday’s action.
After several hours in police custody, Dagbladet interviewed him outside the Oslo police central jail, where he and other activists were waiting for the protesters to be released.
Many of them had in common that they did not leave the arrest empty-handed. Kolstø was fined 19,000 crowns and says many others also received fines of roughly the same order of magnitude.
When asked what he thinks about the size of the cure, Kolstø responds:
– It’s completely absurd. Absolutely absurd. It is a police strategy to make civil disobedience impossible, but civil disobedience is a democratic tool, which in extreme and unjust situations will have to be used sometime. This is such an extreme and unfair situation, especially for those who suffer the most and those who do not have the opportunity to speak, for example our children.
– No no no
Dagbladet does not know if the 53 detainees have been fined, how large the possible fines are, and exactly what may have been fined Monday night.
However, Dagbladet has seen the fine imposed on Kolstø and the indictment against him. The indictment states that the police have fined him two points:
1) Article 181, first paragraph, of the Penal Code – «for having disturbed with fights, noise or other improper conduct a) peace and general order, b) legal traffic, c) the rest of the night, or d) the environment in a place where he remains unjustified despite orders to withdraw.
and
2) Article 30 of the Police Law – “for immediate non-compliance with orders, signs or other signals given by the police.”
Arrested after an action against the newspapers
The basis is his participation in the marking under the Castle, and for not having complied with the police order to leave the place.
– Are you going to adopt the fine?
– No no no. I’ll take this to court, Kolstø responds.
Nice but reluctant
Although the climate activists did not comply with the police order, the marks were peaceful.
– Has there been calm between the protesters and the police ?, VG asked the chief of police tasks at the scene on Monday morning.
– Yes, absolutely, he replied.
Footage from the police action shows reluctant activists, but no one should have resisted, even if they didn’t exactly contribute to their own arrests. The police had to take several of the activists to police vehicles to take them to the central detention center.
Beat all the records
– Not unusual
On Tuesday, Dagbladet contacted the lawyer on duty at the Oslo police. There, police attorney Jeanette Svendsen explains that there is a general assessment behind the size of the tickets that have been issued.
– They must be seen in relation to what people have done. Some of them have been fined both for disturbing the public order and for failing to comply with the police order to leave the scene, says Svendsen.
The police attorney adds that it has also been included in the assessment of whether the detainees have been previously punished for similar acts.
– This is something that can give a raise. By the way, the size of the fines is not unusual for us. A standard fine for disorderly conduct only on weekends will be around 10,000 crowns, says Svendsen.
