Millions of children and adults from Sydney and Mumbai to London and New York took to the streets today as part of a global strike against governments’ inaction on climate change.
Organisers estimated a record three million people turned out in Europe, with events taking place at 200 locations in the UK, while 400,000 people were reported to have joined protests across Australia.
In the US, New York City’s 1.1 million students were given permission to leave schools to take part in the city’s events, which included an address by Swedish student Greta Thunberg, who kickstarted the school strike movement a year ago. “If you belong to that small group of people who feel threatened by us, we have some very bad news for you, because this is only the beginning,” she told the New York City crowd.
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Crowd making its way to Millbank to hear politician’s speeches…
— Lilian Anekwe (@SoMe_Lilian)
Thousands of events took place globally. In Sydney, students, parents, grandparents, babies in prams and workers poured into the city centre’s The Domain, where there was little room to move in the 80,000-person capacity venue. They expressed anger at the Australian government’s inaction, with many placards criticising ministers’ recent approval of the Adani coal mine and weak carbon emission targets.
Yesterday, Australian government member of parliament Craig Kelly told students planning to strike: “Everything you are told is a lie”. He told parliament: “Today’s generation is safer from extreme weather than at any time in human history.” Prime Minister Scott Morrison has also criticised previous school climate strikes, saying children should focus more on learning and less on activism.
But the at the protests in Sydney, Ames, aged 9, says: “The adults voted for a prime minister who won’t help the environment and I think the kids didn’t agree with that.” Harry, 10, says: “We don’t have the right to vote, so protesting is our way of voting and saying what we think is right.”
Several students told żěè¶ĚĘÓƵ that they felt surprised and uplifted by the massive number of people who turned out, and hoped it would be a wake-up call to politicians. As 17-year-old Sydney student and strike organiser Daisy Jeffrey told the crowd: “As the temperature rises, so will we.”
Speaking from Paris, 29-year old Clémence Dubois said the French capital was very busy with protesters, with many adults joining the strike and unions present. She says her message to world leaders meeting at the UN climate change summit on Monday is: “Keep fossil fuels in the ground and challenge the power of fossil fuel companies. The governments are obeying this ruthless industry. The message here is do your homework. Listen to the scientists, so young people can go back to their classrooms.”
Maleehah Laher, 14, from Worcester park: “if we don’t do anything, there will be no change”. Speaking from the in London
— Adam Vaughan (@adamvaughan_uk)
Alarms were set off at 1pm across the UK to mark a “climate alarm”, while Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn said he was inspired by the strikers and told crowds in the UK capital: “I know we can tackle the climate emergency.”
Caroline Lucas, leader of the UK’s Green Party, told protestors: “The truth is that a climate target of net zero by 2050 is not climate leadership. When your house is on fire, you don’t call 999 and ask for a fire engine to be sent in 30 years’ time.”
In London, 14-year-old Mya Adkin said it was difficult to get out of school. “I’m tired of there being no change. We’re fighting so hard and no one’s listening to us,” she says.
With a school tie around his head, 11-year-old Arthur Yerbury says: “I don’t think feel like they’re [the government] doing anything at all [on climate change]. [It’s] pretty much Brexit Brexit Brexit Brexit.”
Bronwynn Swanson, 13, from Winchester:”there’s not a point living in this world if it’s just going to be destroyed” in London
— Adam Vaughan (@adamvaughan_uk)
Carrying an Extinction Rebellion banner, Nathan Hunter, 16, says: “We need governmental regulation, which is why we are all here today. In terms of getting action from the government, we need strikes, we need people to go out on the street.”
All ages here today at London, not just schoolchildren. Micky Vyvyan-Robinson, 62, Berkshire, here with Diana Barhan, 60, Ealing. Robinson: “This is the moment, you have to be here… I’m just so proud of all these young people.”
— Adam Vaughan (@adamvaughan_uk)
Rebeca Sabnam, a 16-year-old Bangladeshi who now lives in the New York, says Bangladesh’s future depends on the climate strike and cutting emissions.
Speaking from the marches in New York, she recalls being carried on her uncle’s shoulders as a girl because flood waters were so high in the low-lying country. “I want to make sure kids of the future don’t have to go through the same thing I did. I feel like yes it [climate change] is an environment issue, [but] it is also an urgent human rights issue.”
