Greta Thunberg alleges sabotage after low turnout at Zurich Film Festival

During the 22nd Zurich Film Festival, Swedish activist Greta Thunberg participated in a panel discussion following the premiere of the documentary ‘My Home of Wind and Sand’. Despite the event being free and having high online demand that exhausted capacity, only approximately 40 people attended the session in a 300-seat cinema.

Thunberg and event organizers raised allegations of sabotage regarding the low turnout. Thunberg suggested that a ticket blockade may have been orchestrated to limit access, noting that many reserved seats remained empty. The panel featured Austrian filmmaker Patrick Wally and Sahrawi activist Najla Mohamed Lamin.

The discussion focused on the plight of the Sahrawi people in North Africa and their struggle for self-determination in Western Sahara, a territory under Moroccan control since the mid-1970s. Thunberg used the platform to connect the Sahrawi conflict to global climate crises and systemic social injustice, calling for increased public discourse on the situation.