Sámi leaders meet with Norway’s president after protests - who are the Sámi? What are they fighting for?

Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Store met with indigenous Sámi reindeer herders on Friday, after more than a week of protests against wind farms that activists say endanger their way of life.

Activists, many of them teenagers, had been arrested and carried away by police, in the clash over government inaction even after a Supreme Court win. They have now said they would pause their blockade of the entrances of several government ministries in Oslo - Norway’s capital - since the government had made a public apology.

The protesters will gather one last time outside the royal palace in Oslo on Friday but stressed that they will not block access as the Norwegian government attends the regular briefing of the Norwegian monarch, which is a formality. However, activist Ella Marie Haetta Isaksen said: “We are ready to restart the actions if we deem it necessary”.

But who are the Sámi people, and why are they opposed to the wind turbines?

Who are the Sámi people?

The Sámi are internationally recognised as Europe’s only indigenous people, with unique cultural roots predating the creation of nation states.

Formerly known as the Lapps, the Sámi are believed to have originated in Central Asia and settled with their reindeer herds in Arctic Europe about 9,000 years ago. They traditionally lived in Lapland, which stretches from northern parts of Norway through Sweden and Finland to Russia.

Across the Arctic region, the majority now live on the Norwegian side of the border. Between 40,000 and 60,000 Sámi live in central and northern Norway.

They have long faced oppression of their culture, including bans on the use of their native tongue and having land taken away. The Sámi people say they remain targets of discrimination, racism and — often through their reindeer — violence, the New York Times reports.

The nomadic people now live mostly modern lifestyles, but still tend reindeer. They have their own parliaments, schools, newspapers and broadcasts in their own language, on national radio and television.

What are they fighting for?

At the centre of the dispute are 151 turbines at Europe’s largest onshore wind farm in the Fosen district, 280 miles north of Oslo. The wind farms spook reindeer herds, impacting the livelihood of the Sámi, Bloomberg reports.

An October 2021 ruling by Norway’s supreme court said that the construction of the wind turbines had violated the rights of the Sámi, who have used the land for herding their reindeer for centuries. The windmills are still operating.

After the court ruling, the Norwegian ministry of petroleum and energy had asked the owners of the two wind farms to establish whether measures could be taken to ensure reindeer herding could continue near the turbines. But the Sámi have so far refused to take part in this process.

The activists, mainly teenagers, began their protest a week ago and have blocked the entrance to several ministries in Oslo, Norway’s capital - Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg among them. On Thursday, police carried activists away from the finance and culture ministries, while others sang a Sámi chant.

The activists say that a transition to green energy should not come at the expense of the rights of indigenous people.

What has the Norwegian government said?

After a Friday breakfast meeting with the Sámi herders, Mr Gahr Store acknowledged that there had been “an ongoing violation of human rights”.

“The reindeer owners are not allowed to exercise their culture in line with the traditions,” he said, adding the aim of the morning meeting “was to repeat the apology we gave yesterday, and at the same time look ahead”.

In the government apology issued on 2 March, Norway’s oil and energy minister Terje Aasland “apologised to the reindeer owners on behalf of the government”. He continued: “They have been in a difficult and unclear situation for a long time. I’m sorry about that.”