Volkswacht Bodensee - Climate activist Greta Thunberg arrives for London trial

Supporters were already gathered outside Westminster Magistrates' Court in central London when the 21-year-old Swedish campaigner arrived around an hour before the 10:00 am (1000 GMT) start of her two-day trial.

They held large yellow signs reading "fossil free London" and "climate protest is not a crime" as Thunberg and her fellow defendants made their way through the throng and into the court building.

A global figure in the fight against climate change, Thunberg pleaded not guilty to the charges at an initial hearing in November, as did four other activists who are her co-defendants.

Thunberg, who faces a maximum fine of £2,500 ($3,177), was taken away by two police officers and put into the back of a van outside the Energy Intelligence Forum, after she joined a mass protest.

She was one of dozens of activists arrested for disrupting access to the conference, which brought together major oil and gas companies at a luxury hotel in the British capital on October 17.

Demonstrators greeted the forum participants with cries of "Shame on you!" while carrying placards reading "Stop Rosebank", a reference to a controversial new North Sea oil field that the government authorised in September.

London police arrested Thunberg for failing to adhere to an order not to block the street where the rally was taking place.

Released on bail, she then took part in another demonstration in front of the five-star hotel the next day, along with hundreds of other people.

- 'Mixed messages' -

Maja Darlington, campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said the activists were on trial "for peacefully protesting" while oil executives were "celebrating making billions from selling climate-wrecking fossil fuels.

"The prosecution of Greta and other peaceful protesters reflects a government that cares more about bolstering the profits of oil bosses than fighting for a liveable future for all of us," she added.

The Conservative government's reversals on pledges to combat climate change have angered campaigners.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has postponed a ban on the sale of combustion engine cars and announced plans to grant new North Sea oil and gas licences as the country battles with an inflation-fuelled cost-of-living crisis.

On Monday, the UK's independent advisory body on climate strategy expressed concern that the government was sending out "mixed messages" that were tarnishing its international influence on the issue.

Thunberg, who came to worldwide attention as a 15-year-old by staging school strikes in her native Sweden, regularly takes part in such demonstrations.

She was fined in October for blocking the port of Malmo in Sweden, a few months after being forcibly removed by police during a demonstration against the use of coal in Germany.

She also joined a march last weekend in southern England to protest against the expansion of Farnborough airport, which is mainly used by private jets.

A.Kunz--VB