Thunberg in Twitter spat with German rail

BERLIN: Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg was forced to defend herself in a Twitter spat with German railway service Deutsche Bahn (DB) on Sunday. Thunberg, 16, provoked a testy reaction from Germany’s oft-maligned rail operator when she tweeted from a DB train on her journey home from the COP25 climate summit in Madrid.

"Traveling on overcrowded trains through Germany. And I’m finally on my way home!" wrote Thunberg above a picture of herself sitting on the floor of a carriage surrounded by suitcases. DB responded testily, pointing out that Thunberg had travelled in first class during her journey through Germany.

"Dear Greta, thanks for supporting us railway workers in our fight against climate change. We are happy that you travelled with us on the ICE 174 on Saturday," tweeted DB’s official account in German.

"It would have been nicer if you had also mentioned the friendly and competent manner in which you were treated by staff at your seat in first class," they added.

The company then followed up the tweets with a press release, in which they added that Greta’s travel companions "were sitting in first class from Frankfurt onwards". Thunberg hit back on Twitter, claiming she had found a seat at a stop after Frankfurt, which she said was "no problem".