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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Sarah Marsh

Youth climate change protests across Britain – as it happened

students striking for climate change action
The latest action comes after the global strike on 15 March, when more than 1 million young people globally demanded action to tackle the climate crisis. Photograph: Gary Calton/The Observer

Closing summary

We’re going to close down this live blog now. Thanks for reading and commenting – here’s a summary of the afternoon’s events:

  • Students across the UK took to the streets on Friday to call for the government to act to tackle the climate change crisis. Protests took place everywhere from Birmingham, to Newcastle and beyond. Jake Woodier, from the UK Youth Climate Coalition, who took part in London, said: “It’s been a really fantastic day, with thousands and thousands of students protesting across the country, and continuing to build the movement.”
  • A further 30 countries across the globe also held events today. Many shared their experiences over social media. It included activity in New Delhi in India, Istanbul in Turkey and Helsinki, Finland’s capital.
  • Politicians, broadcasters, scientists and artists showed their support for young activists. David Attenborough was asked about the young people who have been marching all over the world. The Washington Post asked: when you look at that, what do you see, as someone generations ahead of them? Attenborough said: “I mean, strikes are a way of expressing a strong feeling that you have, but they don’t solve it. You don’t solve anything by striking. But you do change opinion, and you do change politicians’ opinions. And that’s why strikes are worthwhile.”
  • The march in London brought Oxford street to a standstill. Organiser Cyrus Jarvis, 16, a year 11 student from London Academy school in Barnet, North London, said: “The police tried to frighten us with arrests but we just moved on. “We are really sorry for anyone who did have issues because of us, but unfortunately this is what we have to do to get our point across to the government.”

Updated

On 22 April, the Guardian is hosting an event with Greta Thunberg and Anna Taylor, from the UK Student Climate Network, with an introduction from Caroline Lucas MP, and chaired by the Guardian’s Zoe Williams.

You can find out more about this event here.

Most of those who were involved in today’s marches are heading home now. Jake Woodier , from the UK Youth Climate Coalition, said: “It’s been a really fantastic day, with thousands and thousands of students protesting across the country, and continuing to build the movement.”

We will be closing the live blog shortly, so thanks to all those who contributed.

Organiser Cyrus Jarvis, 16, a year 11 student from London Academy school in Barnet, North London, reflected on the march, saying:

The police tried to frighten us with arrests but we just moved on. We are really sorry for anyone who did have issues because of us, but unfortunately this is what we have to do to get our point across to the government. If we don’t cause disruption they don’t listen to us and they haven’t listened to us in the past.”

A roundup of a few more tweets from today’s strikes.

Cambridge Schools Eco-Council, the local children’s organisation behind the strikes, said:

We have inherited a system which fuels the climate crisis that is threatening our future. We have done little to contribute to climate change, and yet we are going to suffer the consequences of it. Equally, the poorest children on Earth are nowadays suffering the worst impacts of a climate crisis that has been fuelled by the economy of the richest countries.

This is a climate emergency. Our youth strikes will continue until government takes notice and urgently acts to stop funding, subsidising and promoting fossil fuels, invests in community-owned renewable energy and includes the environmental crisis in our schools curricula. We demand system change, we demand climate justice.”

Updated

Summary

To keep everyone up to date on what’s been happening on the youth strikes so far today, here’s a summary.

  • Students across the UK are striking to call for the government to act to tackle the climate change crisis. A further 30 countries across the globe are taking a stand.
  • In the UK, more than 60 demonstrations involving tens of thousands of young people are expected from Parliament Square in London to sites in Leeds, Manchester and Brighton.
  • Protesters in London marched up to Trafalgar Square in London carrying a huge green banner asking for a Green New Deal. A sit-down took place in Oxford Street, bringing the area to a standstill. One student climate change protester was taken into a police van because he refused to move out of the road when police ushered people on. The Metropolitan police said there had been no arrests.
  • The youth strikers across the world won the backing of tens of thousands of scientists. In a letter published on Thursday in the prestigious journal Science, leading climate researchers wrote: “We declare: Their concerns are justified and supported by the best available science. The current measures for protecting the climate and biosphere are deeply inadequate.”
  • Labour also came out in support of those taking a stand. Labour’s Norwich South MP Clive Lewis has written for the Guardian today, showing his support for those who are protesting.

Updated

Protesters in London are not just finished with Oxford Street today, but action is set to go on into the evening with a show to raise awareness about the role of fast fashion in climate change.

On Friday, at 6.30pm, the Extinction Rebellion Fashion Action group will put on a catwalk to highlight our fashion consumption habits. The fashion industry is set to consume a quarter of the world’s carbon budget by 2050 in clothing production.

Models and performers will parade across the crossing outside Oxford Circus station – which will be covered in shocking pink carpet – while wearing pollution masks and carrying bags of single-use plastic to highlight the wasteful and disposable nature of the industry.

Ramon Salgado-Touzon, one of the organisers, said:

There are enough clothes already on this planet to dress us all, we need to stop consuming that which we don’t need. We are being manipulated every day into buying more and more, so we want to shift the public consciousness to urge people to realise that we have enough and that this continual consumption is unsustainable and unhealthy. We must heal our minds in order to heal the planet.

Updated

People are now dispersing from Trafalgar Square in London, after a morning of marching through the city. Here’s a map of the day’s activities, showing which parts of the UK got involved.

map of protests

Updated

Updated

Now protesters have made it to Trafalgar Square, and the young people who have gathered are shouting: “Whose planet? Our planet.” People visiting the National gallery are looking on at the action.

Sakina Sheikh, Lewisham councillor from Labour for a Green New Deal, has just said via a tannoy: “This is what democracy looks like.”

“We demand climate justice now ... It’s everybody’s issues. This is a movement and it has to be led by the people we seek to serve, working class communities, communities of colour.”

Her words have been met with a massive cheer and applause.

Updated

One student climate change protester was taken into a police van because he refused to move out of the road.

Oxford Street came to a halt when protesters sat down in the road as part of the Youth Strike 4 Climate campaign.

But as police officers ushered most away, a defiant group stayed on, to the annoyance of some road users. The Metropolitan police said there had been no arrests.

The group were also questioned by pedestrians, who asked why police should be dedicating resources to a protest when knife crime is continuing across the city.

A mother, who joined her children on the march, said: “It’s a protest, they’re making their point, that’s what this is all about.”

Updated

'This is my future not yours, that’s why I care'

One girl, Agnes Freij, eight, has a banner with the Lorax character from Dr Seuss on it. She said that she’s really happy to be here, explaining that she’s from St Aidan’s primary school in north London.

Agnes Freij
Agnes Freij. Photograph: Poppy Noor

“The Lorax speaks for the trees because they don’t have mouths. Right now I think the trees would be saying, ‘stop this climate crisis,’” she said.

Her sister Aida Freij, 13, from St Alexandra Park school in north London, said that a few of the people in her school are also marching. “It’s made a big difference. Everybody’s been putting it on Instagram saying how amazing it is that we’re collectively trying to save the planet.”

Aida Freij.
Aida Freij. Photograph: Poppy Noor

She added: “This is my future not yours, that’s why I care ... We’re striking today on our school holiday, which shows that we’re willing to take time off our holiday to protest because it’s such an important cause.”

Updated

The latest update from Transport for London indicating the march has brought Oxford Street to a halt.

Updated

Families are among the people joining London’s climate action demonstration on Friday. Beth McLaughlin, 38, a psychologist from London, had brought her children to the event so they could learn about how individuals create change.

Her son has been on all the Fridays for the Future school strikes so far, she said. “I’d rather that they didn’t have to miss school, but it makes more of a point and is more likely to effect change.

“Climate change is the most important issue there is, it makes all the other issues irrelevant really.”

Updated

We’re heading down Oxford Street past Topshop, with protestors stopping moving cars and chanting, “turn it off”.

Police vans are moving behind with their sirens on, trying to move on the protesters.

Janina Fendt, 21 – who has been disrupted on her lunchtime shop – supports those marching. She said:

I’m completely in support of it [the protest] because it’s young people taking part. Climate change is highly political, good for them.

Janina Fendt

Mihai Rusu, 16, from Holyrood secondary school, is at his first protest. “The strikes have definitely raised awareness but politicians still have to take action,”he said.

He wants to see a ban on fracking in Scotland – the Scottish government is currently consulting on the issue – and better disposal of waste.

Orla McKee, 16, from St Ninian’s high school, has been to monthly protests since the beginning of the year. “This is really important because we don’t have a lot of time left and not enough is being done to rectify the damage already done,” she said.

She added: “This doesn’t count as a strike because it’s the school holidays, but this was never about getting time off school.”

“The Scottish government is doing some good things but they need to happen faster, like getting rid of single use plastics. We’re often told to change our own lifestyles but we need systemic change.”

Asad Rehman, 52, from War on Want, has just been up giving his speech in London’s Oxford Street. He said:

Our world was built on the exploitation of people from colonialism to slavery and now climate change. Those people who tell us to live within the system are not the ones dying from it. We can build a fairer, more equal and a greener world – that’s why we need system change, not climate change.

Asad Rehman

Updated

This Guardian article from March this year is relevant today. Please see an excerpt below.

Do UK politicians support the climate strike? Party leaders respond

Labour’s leader Jeremy Corbyn said:

Climate change presents terrible risks. But because it demands such massive change and government action, it’s also an opportunity to transform our economy, making it cleaner, healthier and fairer. Labour already has among the most ambitions carbon reduction targets in Europe and radical plans to create a zero-carbon emission economy by 2050. We plan to achieve that by ushering in a “green industrial revolution”.

The Conservative party was invited to participate, but declined.

Nicola Sturgeon, SNP, said:

Climate change is the most serious issue facing the world and is a truly global challenge. We have a moral responsibility to do what we can to prevent and mitigate the effects of climate change for future generations.

Vince Cable, Liberal Democrats, said:

Liberal Democrats invested heavily in a cleaner environment during our period in government, setting up the Green Investment Bank, encouraging homes to cut emissions through the Green Deal, and cutting plastic bag usage by 85% through the 5p levy.

Adam Price, Plaid Cymru, said:

If I were a school pupil today I would be striking against climate change and would make sure the whole school was striking with me. The reason couldn’t be simpler: time is running out.

Siân Berry, Green party, said:

Youth strikers across the world know the planet can’t wait. I’m proud it’s my colleague in parliament, Caroline Lucas, demanding the government launch a Green New Deal with money ploughed into thousands of new green jobs and transformed local energy and transport networks. If ministers are serious about securing the planet for our children, they will act now.

Updated

'They fear us because they know if we get our shit together we can change the world'

Cameron Joshi, 21, who is part of Global Justice Now’s youth network, is speaking in London. He said:

The global system of trade benefits them, not us, it’s built for consumption. But they’re fucking afraid of us. Fuck yeah, they should be. They fear us because they know if we get our shit together we can change the world. We’re at an absolutely seminal point in history, years of consumerism, capitalism and environmental murder and we can change it all if we want it all, and we do.

Cameron Joshi.
Cameron Joshi. Photograph: The Guardian

Updated

Elsewhere, in York ...

In London, protesters have stopped in the middle of Oxford Street, bringing the place to a complete standstill. They are sitting down crossed-legged, drawing burning planets in chalk on the floor and scrawling slogans like “no planet B”.

They’ve just been given a call to rise by one of the organisers Noga Levy-Rapoport, 17, who says they need to get up, spread around and disrupt the space: “We want this space filled, we are currently in Oxford Street, the centre of fast fashion and we want to disrupt it.”

Updated

The event on Friday marks the third mass protest in as many months. A number of groups were distributing leaflets and newspapers at Parliament Square in central London on Friday morning where between 400 and 800 people had gathered.

Theo Sharieff, 23, an organiser for Socialist Students, from Birmingham, said to “fight climate change we need socialist change”.

He added: “We’re Marxists and we’re Trotskyists, we believe that the Russian revolution in 1917 was an example of the working class taking democratic control of wealth and resources.”

Sixth-former Nova Levy-Rapoport, 17, an organiser for the UK Student Climate Network, said: “There is so little time that we have left before we enter such a volatile future and if I was not here today it would be a literal betrayal to myself, my family, my friends and my future.”

The strikes come in the wake of a UN report which warned that limiting global temperature rises to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, beyond which climate impacts become increasingly severe, requires unprecedented action.

Updated

People are commenting online on the large numbers who are taking to the streets to call for government action on the climate crisis.

Sara Cowan, 23, a Strathclyde University student, is protesting with the Divest Strathclyde group.

I grew up in Ecuador, which was a really diverse country but the government allowed companies to come in and destroy that.

Now studying in Scotland, she says the protests “are really important to show companies and governments that we as citizens and consumers want change”.

Another protester, 16-year-old Nancy Bijonauth, argues that students coming out during the school holidays shows that the school strike movement is about a lot more than missing a few hours of school.

This is my future that’s going to be impacted. I’m not skipping school today, and that just shows we are doing this because we want a future.

Updated

Labour’s shadow secretary of state for business energy and industrial strategy, Rebecca Long-Bailey, has told protesters that the Labour party is with them.

She said that the party will kick off the green industrial revolution, creating jobs. “Labour has declared a climate and environmental emergency,” she said.

You can see the full video of her speaking below.

Updated

We are now marching through gridlocked traffic where Haymarket meets Piccadilly Circus. George Bond, 16, one of the organisers of the march, says the relevance of the West End is that it’s a symbol of western convenience culture, while the world struggles with the climate crisis.

Oxford Street is full of fast fashion and it’s a stark reminder in the western world that, while we enjoy a culture of convenience, people in the global south are working in bad conditions.”

Busker Romeu Neto in the square is on his mic supporting the protesters saying: “I’m with you guys! The more there are of you the stronger we are!”

Busker Romeu Neto.
Busker Romeu Neto. Photograph: The Guardian

Updated

A roundup of activity around Britain, from Sheffield to Birmingham.

Protesters marched up to Trafalgar Square in London carrying a huge green banner asking for a Green New Deal. There are legal observers here on behalf of protesters making sure that police don’t abuse their power and that it’s a safe environment. They are tailing the police with notepads in hi-vis vests.

The Green New Deal banner is inspired by Alexandria Ocasio Cortez’s Green New Deal in the US, a proposed stimulus program that aims to address climate change and economic inequality, with organisers saying the Green New Deal is coming to the UK.

As protesters move down towards Haymarket, planning to end up in Oxford Circus, they are stopping traffic and large vehicles driving past, tapping on windows chanting “turn it off, engines off”. They are chanting: “Show me what democracy looks like, this is what democracy looks like.”

Updated

Clive Lewis MP: 'Labour supports the UK climate strikers'

Labour’s Norwich South MP Clive Lewis has written for the Guardian today, showing his support for those who are protesting.

Clive Lewis

Friday’s declaration from the UK youth climate strikers calling for a Green New Deal in the UK brings these two strands together, and marks a shift from the oppositional to the propositional for the youth strikers. It is now up to all British politicians to heed their call.

The time for incrementalism has passed. The young people striking today recognise this. They know that their only hope of a decent future is if government works with the people to throw everything we have got at this problem before it’s too late. But they also have the vision to see that the life-saving work of tackling climate change offers a golden chance to fix so many of the other things in our society and economy that decades of neoliberal dogma have broken.

Read the full article here.

Updated

In London, students are saying that they will come out en masse on Friday as their parents and teachers stopped them from coming during term time when the last march was on.

What looks like a crowd of thousands are walking down Westminster bridge in the capital, chanting: “Hey ho, climate change has got to go, can we fix it? Yes we can.” One banner reads: “You’ll die of old age, I’ll die of climate change.”

Ellie Thompson, 14, from Thomas Tallis school said:

I feel like, why am I getting an education for a future that’s inevitably doomed? Some people say it’s not a strike because we’re on half term – well I don’t agree. I’m glad that children who couldn’t attend last time because their parents or teachers were too strict can now be involved because it’s really important.

Updated

“Your concerns are justified”: scientists support the strikers

The youth strikers across the world have won the backing of tens of thousands of scientists. In a letter published on Thursday in the prestigious journal Science, leading climate researchers wrote:

We declare: Their concerns are justified and supported by the best available science. The current measures for protecting the climate and biosphere are deeply inadequate.

The letter has been endorsed by more than 4,500 other scientists and follows a similar letter from 26,500 German, Austrian and Swiss scientists. Both letters state:

We approve and support [the strikers’] demand for rapid and forceful action. Only if humanity acts quickly and resolutely can we limit global warming, halt the ongoing mass extinction of animal and plant species, and preserve the natural basis for the food supply and well-being of present and future generations. This is what the young people want to achieve. They deserve our respect and full support.

The letter in Science continues:

The enormous grassroots mobilization of the youth climate movement shows that young people understand the situation.

It is critical to immediately begin a rapid reduction in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. The degree of climate crisis that humanity will experience in the future will be determined by our cumulative emissions; rapid reduction now will limit the damage.

Many social, technological, and nature-based solutions already exist. The young protesters rightfully demand that these solutions be used to achieve a sustainable society. Without bold and focused action, their future is in critical danger. There is no time to wait until they are in power.”

The letter also calls for more scientists to back the strikers:

We call for our colleagues across all disciplines and from the entire world to support these young climate protesters.

In March, a letter from 224 UK academics in the Guardian said the young strikers “have every right to be angry about the future that we shall bequeath to them, if proportionate and urgent action is not taken”.

Updated

A selection of letters from cultural figures, members of the public and celebrities will be read out at the end of the protest march on Friday.

Over 1,000 letters have been written as part of the Letters To The Earth project. On Friday, at 1pm at Oxford Circus in London, the content of the notes will be performed by members of Youth Strike 4 Climate.

Notable submissions include letters from artist and peace activist Yoko Ono, American author and leading feminist thinker Rebecca Solnit, writer and illustrator of The Lost Words Jackie Morris, and award-winning poet Kate Tempest.

Following the launch of Letters to the Earth, 52 arts venues, theatres and community spaces across the world, from Zambia to Canada, will host readings of these letters.

Updated

A roundup of tweets on the climate protests taking place today, from Helsinki, Finland’s southern capital, to New Delhi in India.

Updated

Broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough

Sir David Attenborough has shown his support for the youth strikes in an interview with the Washington Post. He was asked about the young people who have been marching all over the world. The Post asked: when you look at that, what do you see, as someone generations ahead of them? Attenborough said:

I mean, strikes are a way of expressing a strong feeling that you have, but they don’t solve it. You don’t solve anything by striking. But you do change opinion, and you do change politicians’ opinions. And that’s why strikes are worthwhile.

Updated

Where are the strikes in Britain today?

Students across the UK are striking to call for the government to act to tackle the climate change crisis. A further 30 countries across the globe are taking a stand. Below is a list of areas in the UK getting involved:

  • Aberdeen
  • Banbury
  • Bangor
  • Bath
  • Birmingham
  • Bournemouth
  • Brighton
  • Bristol
  • Cardiff
  • Edinburgh
  • Exeter
  • London
  • York
  • Warrington

Full list can be found here.

The youth strike protest movement began when Swedish student Greta Thunberg started a solo school strike in August. As well as activity in Britain, there are also international strikes today in countries such as Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, Germany and Sweden.

Updated

Everyone from journalists to MPs have been showing their support for young people taking a stand today.

One of the UK’s most prominent school strikers, 13-year-old Holly Gillibrand, has been at her regular post outside her school in Fort William, in the Scottish Highlands, since just after 9am this morning.

Gillibrand is striking for the 14th week running, holding her hand-made ‘school strikes for the climate’ sign – there are 10 other strikers with her currently but she’s hoping for more as the morning progresses.

Holly is not actually missing school today – most of Scotland’s school pupils are now in their second week of the Easter holiday break.

She says: “I think it’s important to strike during the holidays because people were saying that we were on strike because we got to miss school, so this shows we are dedicated and willing to give up our free time for this crisis. Climate change doesn’t stop and neither do we.”

Gillibrand met Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon recently along with other school climate activists to press their case. “It’s really good that politicians like Nicola Sturgeon are listening to us but it’s whether she takes the next step”.

Gilibrand wants to see Scotland reach net zero emissions by 2030 “because we’re a rich, developed country so we need to be reducing our emissions more quickly”, and wants to Scottish government to take nature and environmental protection more seriously.

Updated

Welcome to the live blog on youth strikes for climate action

A fresh wave of youth strikes for climate action will hit towns and cities across the UK today. More than 60 demonstrations involving tens of thousands of young people are expected from Parliament Square in London to sites in Leeds, Manchester and Brighton.

It comes as a government report revealed that the nation is set to miss its emissions targets.

The latest strikes come after the global strike on 15 March, when more than 1 million young people across the world took action to demand rapid action to tackle the climate crisis.

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