Activists in global climate protest demand leaders take action, slam Ukraine war
- The Fridays for Future movement, inspired by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, called demonstrations from Australia to Indonesia and the US to Sweden
- Russian activists denounced their government’s actions in Ukraine: ‘There are a lot of Russian people who are against Putin … we are afraid, but … we will not stop’
Climate activists staged a 10th series of worldwide protests Friday to demand that leaders take stronger action against global warming, with some linking their environmental message to calls for an end to the war in Ukraine.
The Fridays for Future movement, inspired by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, called demonstrations from Australia to Indonesia and the United States to Sweden.
In Jakarta, activists dressed in red robes and held placards demanding “system change not climate change.”
Others held a banner saying “G20, stop funding our extinction,” a reference to the fact that the Group of 20 biggest developed and emerging economies account for about 80 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Indonesia hosts the group’s next summit this fall.
In Rome, protesters carried a giant inflatable globe through the streets and a banner reading “Make school, not war.”
Some 300 protests were planned in Germany. Thousands of mostly young people rallied in Berlin’s government district, many of them Ukraine’s yellow and blue national flag. “We are here today to show that peace and climate justice belong together,” Clara Duvigneau, a student from Berlin, said.