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Greta Thunberg pleaded not guilty on Wednesday during a trial in London. The Swedish climate activist must answer for disrupting public order because she allegedly did not follow police instructions during a protest.

The hearing ended after less than an hour. The actual start of the trial was scheduled for February 1.

Thunberg had arrived earlier at the courthouse in London, surrounded by reporters and cameras. At the start of the hearing she gave her name and date of birth. Her lawyer had requested that she not have to give her address in Sweden because of threats.

Thunberg was temporarily arrested in London in mid-October after she and other climate activists allegedly refused to open a street during a protest and instead demonstrated on the sidewalk. Thunberg took part in a protest in London shortly after her arrest.

About a dozen protesters from Greenpeace and the group Fossil Free London gathered in front of the courthouse on Wednesday. They called for an end to the exploitation of fossil fuels. For example, posters say ‘Make the polluters pay’ (translation: ‘Make the polluters pay’).

Thunberg recently came into discussion because of her position in the conflict in the Middle East. On Wednesday, unlike other defendants and supporters, the 20-year-old did not wear a Palestinian scarf around her neck. At a Fridays for Future climate demonstration in Amsterdam, she appeared wearing a Palestinian scarf and emphasized that the climate movement must support the voices of the oppressed. The German branch of Fridays for Future has now distanced itself from her. She did not respond when a reporter in London asked her whether she had hurt her cause by supporting Palestine.

(yam/sda/dpa)