BERLIN/SYDNEY • In Canberra, Kabul and Berlin, and elsewhere across the globe, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets yesterday to demand that their leaders tackle climate change in the run-up to a United Nations summit.
Many were children who skipped school to take part in the second Global Climate Strike following a similar event in March that drew large crowds.
Events kicked off in Australia, where protesters marched in 110 towns and cities, including Sydney and the national capital, Canberra. Demonstrators called for their country, the world's largest exporter of coal and liquid natural gas, to take more drastic action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
"Stop denying the earth is dying," read a sign, carried by one student protester in Sydney.
Similar protests, inspired by 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, were planned in some 150 countries yesterday.
Hundreds of rallies took place across Europe, including in the Czech Republic, Germany, Britain and Poland, which is still widely coal-reliant and where many middle schools gave students the day off to enable them to participate in rallies in Warsaw and other cities.
In Berlin, organisers said 80,000 people gathered at the landmark Brandenburg Gate, not far from Chancellor Angela Merkel's office.
The ruling coalition yesterday agreed a landmark package totalling about €54 billion (S$82 billion) to get Germany's climate policies back on track after negotiations that began on Thursday.
Smaller protests took place in Asia, from the Philippines to Hong Kong and India.
"We need to reclaim our constitutional right to clean air and water," said Aman Sharma, a 16-year-old protester in New Delhi.
The aim is for students and others around the world to speak in one voice about the impending effects of climate change on the planet.
The strike was to culminate in New York, when Greta - who has been nominated for a Nobel Prize for her climate activism - was to spearhead a march in the home of the UN headquarters. She is expected to speak at the UN Climate Action Summit on Monday.
In the Afghan capital Kabul, an armoured personnel carrier protected about 100 young people as they marched, led by a group of women carrying a banner emblazoned with "Fridays for Future".
Rallies also took place in Johannesburg, Kenya's capital Nairobi and South African capital Pretoria.
Experts say Africa is the most vulnerable continent to climate change and the least equipped to deal with it. Governments have pleaded for more support from the international community.
Organisers said the demonstrations aim to promote awareness of climate change and demand political action to curb contributing factors, namely carbon emissions.
ASSOCIATED PRESS, REUTERS, BLOOMBERG
