Hundreds of thousands of youth worldwide are participating in a school strike, demanding action on climate change, heeding a call by Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg to hold demonstrations across the world on Friday.
Teenagers on the streets of Paris warned governments on Friday there would be no summer let-up in their efforts to push for stronger action on climate change, as international green campaigners called a global strike for September 20.
“I should be at school, revising for my French baccalaureat – but I’d rather be here, for my future,” said Jules, 17, who only wanted to give his first name.
He and five friends decided to skip school despite end-of-year exams creeping up, to participate in what is thought to have been one of the biggest global climate actions by young people yet, mobilising hundreds of thousands.
Organisers expect strikes and demonstrations to happen in more than 1,600 places in 110 countries – from New Zealand to Syria and Venezuela.