Video of young boy shielding Greta Thunberg from photographers goes viral

Video of a young boy shielding teen climate activist Greta Thunberg from photographers on Capitol Hill is going viral. 

A clip shows the boy jumping in front of Thunberg while she attended a news conference on Wednesday.

{mosads}According to The Guardian, Thunberg, who had already been scheduled to speak at several hearings and events in Washington, D.C., this week, didn’t make remarks at the news conference and allowed other youth climate activists to lead it instead. 

Thunberg could be seen smiling briefly when the unidentified boy jumped in front of her. 

The moment was praised online by a number of people, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).

For everyone who feels confused about how to act in 2019, #GenGND is a great example for the world.https://t.co/W6uqaBRddf

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) September 18, 2019

Nice work young man https://t.co/k86K9Veex2

— Jason Isbell (@JasonIsbell) September 18, 2019

This is. So. Sweet. https://t.co/AhK7Z5KCy2

— Katy Stoll (@katystoll) September 18, 2019

brb cryinghttps://t.co/Oa3SglXegg

— Andrea González-Ramírez (@andreagonram) September 18, 2019

My heart is going to explode. https://t.co/7W9gpMx02c

— Franklin Leonard (@franklinleonard) September 18, 2019

Tämä ❤ https://t.co/xS5zJ7XGUc

— Li Andersson (@liandersson) September 18, 2019

The video was captured shortly before Thunberg was scheduled to speak at a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing, The Cut reports. 

While testifying before Congress on climate change and global warming, the 16-year-old Swedish activist, whose protests sparked youth climate demonstrations across the world, said that she “met people whose communities were simply destroyed by natural disasters … amplified by the climate crisis.” 

“I have met people whose food and water supplies being threatened by climate-related catastrophes,” the activist added. “We are already seeing the unacceptable consequences of this today, and it will only get worse the longer we delay action unless we start to act now.” 

During her testimony, she also sparred briefly with Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) by disputing a metaphor he shared to argue that higher-polluting countries should be doing more to fight greenhouse gas emissions than others.