Greta Thunberg arrested at Dutch climate protest

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has been arrested by Dutch police at a protest in The Hague.

The 21-year-old joined hundreds of protesters in a march against fossil fuel subsidies on Saturday.

The protest devolved into a tense standoff as dozens of police officers, some on horseback, attempted to stop protesters from blocking a main road.

Local police put Ms Thunberg on a bus full of demonstrators and she was driven away from the scene.

Protesters had planned to block The Hague's A12 highway for what Extinction Rebellion organisers say was the 37th time. The road has been subject to regular blockades since 2022.

The demonstration was called to denounce the Dutch government's tax concessions for companies connected to the fossil fuel industry, including the energy firm, Shell, and the airline, KLM.

Activists hoped to pile pressure on the government ahead of a planned debate about fossil fuel subsidies in June.

Ms Thunberg joined hundreds of protesters in The Hague, some carrying placards saying, "Stop fuel subsidies now!" and "The planet is dying!".

A group of activists then marched from the city centre to a field next to the highway, where a wall of local police officers was waiting for them.

"It's important to demonstrate today because we are living in a state of planetary emergency," Ms Thunberg told AFP news agency as police blocked the marchers.

"We must do everything to avoid that crisis and to save human lives."

Asked whether she was concerned about police action, she said: "Why should I be?"

She was later arrested, along with several other protesters, and driven away on a bus.

At previous protests in The Hague, police have driven detainees away from a protest's epicentre and released them without further consequences, according to Reuters.

As of around 14:00 local time (12:00 GMT), traffic was still flowing on the A12, according to the Netherlands' AD newspaper.

The Hague's local police told the BBC: "While we can't comment on individual cases, we can confirm that all of the people who were picked up by police and put on to minibuses were officially arrested, because they were blocking the highway and that is against the law."

Ms Thunberg has been a leading climate campaigner since she was 15 years old.

In February, she and four co-defendants were found not guilty of breaking the law when they refused to follow police instructions during a climate demonstration in London.