- Greta Thunberg clapped back at German rail company Deutsche Bahn after they accused her of staging a picture of her sitting on the floor of one of their trains.
- German rail operator Deutsche Bahn appeared to suggest the photo was staged, saying that Thunberg was treated to "friendly" and "competent" first class service on their trains.
- Thunberg responded in her typical no-nonsense fashion— saying she had in fact sat on the floor on two different trains before getting a seat after the train reached the German city of Göttingen.
- The 16-year-old climate activist was travelling home from Madrid after attending the UN climate conference in Madrid, a journey she made to and from Sweden on trains in order to avoid environmentally-costly plane travel.
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Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg clapped back at a German rail operator after they appeared to accuse her of staging a picture of herself sitting on the floor of an "overcrowded" train.
Thunberg posted the picture on Twitter on Saturday, in which she can be seen sitting on the floor of the train, and appears to be wistfully staring out of the window surrounded by her luggage.
The caption on the tweet reads: "Traveling on overcrowded trains through Germany."
Traveling on overcrowded trains through Germany. And I’m finally on my way home! pic.twitter.com/ssfLCPsR8o
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) December 14, 2019
German rail operator Deutsche Bahn responded to Thunberg criticizing her for not praising their "friendly" and "competent" team, and appeared to suggest that the photograph was staged by mentioning Thunberg had a first class seat on the train.
Thunberg clapped back against Deutsche Bahn in her usual no-nonsense manner by relating her version of the story behind the picture.
"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," she said in a tweet.
She also made it clear that her comment on the train being "overcrowded" was not a criticism against the operator.
"Overcrowded trains is a great sign because it means the demand for train travel is high!"
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!
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) December 15, 2019
Thunberg was travelling home from Madrid after attending the UN climate conference — a journey she made to and from her home in Sweden entirely on public transport in order to avoid environmentally-costly plane travel.
During the conference she was also criticized for saying that politicians should be put "against the wall" to pass progressive environmental policies, a term which some accused of insinuating violence.
Thunberg said the phrase was a literal translation from Swedish which means to put someone on the spot with tough questions, and apologized for any misunderstanding.
The young activist is no stranger to high profile Twitter spats, having last week incurred the wrath of US President Donald Trump, who said the decision to make her Time's Person of the Year was "ridiculous," and told Thunberg to "chill."
- Read more:
- How 16-year-old Greta Thunberg — Time's 2019 person of the year — became the face of climate activism in just one year
- Greta Thunberg, who was just named Time's 2019 person of the year, says she's 'tired of selfies' and meetings with politicians
- Greta Thunberg may be the world's savviest Twitter troll. Here are the presidents and pundits she has put in their place.
- White House says Trump's attacks on 16-year-old Greta Thunberg are fair game because she's an 'activist,' while mentions of the first couple's 13-year-old son should be off-limits
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