The young people, from among others the organizations NSR Nuorat and Natur og Ungdom, demonstrate against the wind farm at Fosen in Tröndelag, Norway.
The Norwegian High Court, equivalent to the Supreme Court, has ruled that the wind power project is against indigenous rights. But despite that, the entire wind farm is still standing more than 500 days later. Now the young people refuse to leave the ministry building until the wind turbines are demolished.
“For 82 hours we have been here inside the headquarters of power. The power, which for centuries has tried to silence our people, is the same power that for over 500 days has committed human rights violations against the Fosen Sami,” they write on Instagram during Sunday evening.
Gets support from the Sami Parliament president
A large number of people gathered outside the ministry on Sunday afternoon. The activists spoke and cheered for them from inside the building. During the Sunday evening, a screening of the film “Ellos eatnu – La elva leve” is also planned outside the department, reports NRK Sápmi.
The film is about the Alta uprising where Sami activists, in protest against the hydroelectric plant in the Alta and Kautokeino rivers, among other things, went on hunger strike outside the Storting in the 1980s. The main character in the film is Ella Marie Hætta, who is now herself one of the activists who sit inside the ministry.
The young people will also be visited by the Sámi Parliament president Silje Karine Muotka (NSR) during the Sunday evening.
– I expect the department to take seriously the demand that this crime against human rights cease, she says in a press release sent out by Nature and Youth.
Planning to lock down the building
During Monday, the demonstrations are expected to expand further. The activists have openly invited an attempt to block off the entire building.
“It is not justifiable to let a ministry, without respect for indigenous rights, continue to do more damage,” they write in a post on Instagram.
In an email reply to SVT Sápmi, Norwegian State Secretary Amund Vik (AP) writes that the ministry is in discussions with the reindeer industry about the wind farm.
“The government is doing its best to help ensure that this issue is resolved and that it does not take longer than necessary,” he writes.