Greta Thunberg engaged the German railway service Deutsche Bahn in Twitter warfare after sharing a photo of herself sitting on the floor of a packed train.
The 16-year-old Swede, who was later upgraded to First Class, wrote on Saturday: 'Traveling on overcrowded trains through Germany. And I’m finally on my way home!'
In a stinging reply, DB said: 'Dear #Greta, thank you for supporting us railroad workers in the fight against climate change! We were pleased that you were on the ICE 74 with us on Saturday. And with 100 percent green electricity.
'It would have been even nicer if you had also reported how friendly and competent you were looked after by our team at your seat in first class.'
The 16-year-old Swede, who was later upgraded to First Class, wrote on Saturday: 'Traveling on overcrowded trains through Germany. And I’m finally on my way home!'
DB followed up their tweets with a press release, in which they added that Greta's travel companions 'were sitting in first class from Frankfurt onwards'
Thunberg, who was returning from the COP25 climate summit in Madrid, quickly wrote back: 'Our train from Basel was taken out of traffic. So we sat on the floor on 2 different trains. After Göttingen I got a seat. This is no problem of course and I never said it was.
'Overcrowded trains is a great sign because it means the demand for train travel is high!'
DB followed up their tweets with a press release, in which they added that Greta's travel companions 'were sitting in first class from Frankfurt onwards'.
As a First Class passenger, Thunberg would have had access to more legroom in plush leather seats, free food and drink, as well as complimentary WiFi and newspapers.
Her online run-in with DB came just hours after she had spoken before a furious climate protest in Turin, Italy, and said that she would 'put leaders against the wall' if they continued running away from their climate obligations.
Greta Thunberg told cheering protesters Friday 'we will make sure we put world leaders against the wall' if they fail to take urgent action on climate change.
She later apologised for the remark, claiming that a Swedish phrase had been lost in translation.
'Yesterday I said we must hold our leaders accountable and unfortunately said "put them against the wall". That's Swenglish: 'att ställa någon mot väggen' (to put someone against the wall) means to hold someone accountable. That's what happens when you improvise speeches in a second language.' Ms Thunberg wrote.
'But of course I apologise if anyone misunderstood this. I can not enough express the fact that I - as well as the entire school strike movement - are against any possible form of violence. It goes without saying but I say it anyway.'
And that followed on the heels of another high-profile Twitter storm after Thunberg was named TIME magazine's person of the year.
Thunberg, who was returning from the COP25 climate summit in Madrid, quickly followed up her tweet, writing: 'Our train from Basel was taken out of traffic. So we sat on the floor on 2 different trains. After Göttingen I got a seat. This is no problem of course and I never said it was. 'Overcrowded trains is a great sign because it means the demand for train travel is high!'
President Donald Trump tweeted that she had 'anger management problems' and told her to 'chill'.
Thunberg responded by changing her Twitter bio to include the words 'currently chilling'.
Thunberg's journey through Germany was the last leg of a continent-spanning trip which began when she travelled to New York on a low-emissions yacht last August.
Th 16-year-old activist started a worldwide movement last year when she began to strike from school every Friday to protest government inaction on climate change.
Refusing to fly, she has twice crossed the Atlantic by boat in recent months in order to speak at a UN climate summit in New York and the hastily rearranged COP25 summit in Madrid.
No comments:
Post a Comment