GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, GERMANY (REUTERS) - Hundreds of protesters marched in the southern German town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen on Sunday (June 26), near where leaders of the Group of Seven (G-7) countries are meeting, demanding action on climate change.
Leaders of the G-7 - the United States, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Canada and Japan - started a three-day summit on Sunday at Schloss Elmau in the Bavarian mountains, set to be dominated by the war in Ukraine.
Under a banner reading Global Justice, Saving Climate Instead of Arming several speakers addressed a crowd of protesters, calling for more action to fight climate change.
"I'm protesting here today for climate justice and for the right decisions to be made so that I have a future," said Ms Theresa Stoeckl, one of the protesters.
Seven of the protesters, holding an Oxfam banner which said Stop Burning Our Planet, were wearing traditional Bavarian costumes and masks depicting the G-7 leaders.
They clutched beer mugs while holding a model of the earth over a barbecue grill.
Mr Benedikt Doennwagen said: "Seven heads of government from different countries negotiate about the entire world. And we have already seen before that what they negotiate is not always to the benefit of the entire world."
Another protester Mr Erich Utz said the G-7 leaders should include young people in the summit and its decisions.
"I'm 17 years old - there are people sitting there who are four times my age, discussing my future without asking any young people what we want even once," Mr Utz said.
Around 1,000 people were expected to take part in the protest but police said there were 250 people at Sunday's demonstration.
"We assume that there will probably be more. But we'll just have to wait and see," police spokesperson Carolin Englert told Reuters.
A group of women protesters, wearing rose garlands and waving Ukrainian flags, held a pro-Ukraine rally on the sidelines of the G-7 protests calling for a complete embargo against Russia.
"We are here to remind the public and somehow the heads of state of the G-7 states meeting here that the war in Ukraine is still ongoing," said Ilya Bakhovskyy.
Some 4,000 people marched in Munich on Saturday calling on G-7 leaders to take action to fight poverty, climate change and world hunger.
Greenpeace activists projected a giant peace symbol on top of Waxenstein mountain near to Schloss Elmau late on Saturday to send a pro-peace and anti-fossil fuel message to the G7 summit.
On Monday a small group of protesters will be allowed to hold a rally 500m from the castle where the G-7 summit is taking place.
