Student activists around Australia have skipped school to participate in nationwide protests, staging sit-downs outside offices of fuel companies and politicians.
The protest comes after Prime Minister Scott Morrison refused to answer questions on climate change as fires ravaged the state.
The protests tagged ‘School Strike 4 Climate‘ has than 3,000 students had gathered in Sydney and over 500 at Liberal party headquarters in the inner-city suburb of Woolloomooloo.
About seven sit-downs were held around the country’s capital cities, as well as a 150-strong rally in fire-ravaged Taree on New South Wales’ mid-north coast.
Shiann Broderick, a teenager from Nymboida, whose home was burned down in New South Wales bushfires, called on Prime Minister Scott Morrison at a climate emergency protest outside the Liberal party headquarters to listen to the experts.
Broderick said the government inaction on the climate crisis is unacceptable, adding their thoughts and prayers are not enough, saying:
Australia is burning and you fail. You fail to act, you fail to address the climate catastrophe. My home is burning and you’re sending me your thoughts and prayers.
Another protest in Sydney featured a march from Bronte Beach to Mark’s Park on the cliffs above Bondi Beach.
The protesters demand that the government should not approve any new coal, oil and gas projects, that Australia moves to 100 per cent renewable energy and exports by 2030, and that funding is allocated for a transition away from fossil fuel jobs.
This is people power! 3000+ at the Liberal Party Headquarters in Sydney demanding real climate action! #ThisIsClimateChange pic.twitter.com/p9ucYrUCJP
— School Strike 4 Climate Australia (@StrikeClimate) November 28, 2019
Organizers of Sydney Protest
The protest was organized by University Students for Climate Justice. The protests coincide with the International Day of Climate Strikes, the movement founded by Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg.
Greta Thunberg, a Swedish teenager who has become a global figurehead on climate change, led a demonstration in New York after crossing the Atlantic by a sailing boat, calling for world leaders to listen to the experts on climate change.
Climate change protests around the world
Thousands of young people started taking part in school strikes around the world to demand urgent action on climate change.
Following an initiative of a year ago by 16-year-old Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thunberg, over 20,000 people reportedly staged a demonstration in Edinburgh, with thousands also gathering in Glasgow.
A thousand others in Scotland also protested demanding urgent action on climate change.
Hundreds of students and teachers also gathered in Sydney to join the protest, with many holding homemade signs.
