Thousands of student activists skip school to protest against a lack of action on Australia’s climate change ’emergency’
- Student activists across Australia have skipped school to protest climate change
- The protests run by School Strike 4 Climate included 300-strong rally in Sydney
- Crowds have also gathered to protest in the country’s other seven capital cities
- School Strike 4 Climate oversaw the massive protests in Australia in September
- More than 300,000 took part in biggest climate mobilisation in nation’s history
Student activists around Australia have skipped school to join nationwide protests staging sit-downs outside the offices of fossil fuel companies and politicians.
Organisers School Strike 4 Climate said more than 3,000 people had gathered in Sydney on Friday morning – including 500 at Liberal Party headquarters in the inner-city suburb of Woolloomooloo.
Scheduled sit-downs in the country’s other seven capital cities have also been held, as well as a 150-strong rally in fire-ravaged Taree on New South Wales’ mid-north coast.
Student activists across Australia have skipped school to join protesters around the country staging-sit downs outside the offices of fossil fuel companies and politicians (pictured a protester in Woolloomooloo outside Liberal Party headquarters in Sydney)
Organisers School Strike 4 Climate said more than 3,000 people had gathered in Sydney on Friday morning (pictured an estimated 500 people in Woolloomooloo)
The Sydney protest (pictured) and those around the country are being co-ordinated by the same movement which oversaw more than 300,000 people – including thousands of students – gather across Australia in September
Bushfire survivor Shiann Broderick, 18, (pictured addressing the crowd in Sydney) angrily called on Prime Minister Scott Morrison at the rally in Woolloomooloo to listen to the ‘experts’
The protests are being co-ordinated by the same movement which oversaw more than 300,000 people – including thousands of students – gather across Australia in September in the biggest climate mobilisation in the nation’s history.
The new rallies are being held to acknowledge those suffering the effects of climate change, including victims of recent bushfires that ravaged NSW and Queensland.
Bushfire survivor Shiann Broderick, 18, angrily called on Prime Minister Scott Morrison at the rally in Woolloomooloo to listen to the ‘experts’.
‘We need climate action. This is an emergency. Act like it,’ Broderick told the crowd.
The teenager, who lost her home in Nymboida in northern New South Wales, said the bushfires that swept through her town were like ‘firestorms’ and proof of the effect of climate change.
‘Australia is burning and you fail. You fail to act, you fail to address the climate catastrophe. My home is burning and your sending me your thoughts and prayers,’ she said.
Two activists wearing school uniform wore gas masks to underline their belief a climate emergency was at hand
‘We need climate action. This is an emergency. Act like it,’ Broderick told the crowd (pictured a protester with a sign depicting Scott Morrison as the devil)
The new rallies are being held to acknowledge those suffering the effects of climate change, including victims of recent bushfires that ravaged NSW and Queensland
‘Prime minister your thoughts and prayers are not enough.’
The rally was MC’d by two 14-year-old students wearing their school uniform.
Red Rebels protesters from Extinction Rebellion also joined hands in Sydney in front of a banner demanding action on climate change.
The strikers’ demands are that no new coal, oil and gas projects be approved, that Australia move to 100 per cent renewable energy and exports by 2030, and that funding is allocated for a transition away from fossil fuel jobs
Red Rebels protesters from Extinction Rebellion also joined hands in Sydney in front of a banner demanding action on climate change
One protester was seen with a white mask over her face reading ‘Australia is on fire’
School Strike 4 Climate also shared photos and vision of groups of protesters gathering elsewhere in Australia (pictured protest in Armidale)
Another protest in Sydney featured a march from Bronte Beach to Mark’s Park on the cliffs above Bondi Beach.
School Strike 4 Climate also shared photos and vision of groups of protesters gathering elsewhere in Australia – including Perth,Alice Springs, Hobart and Newcastle.
The strikers’ demands are that no new coal, oil and gas projects be approved, that Australia move to 100 per cent renewable energy and exports by 2030, and that funding is allocated for a transition away from fossil fuel jobs.
A 150-strong rally in fire-ravaged Taree on New South Wales’ mid-north coast to emphasise the effect of climate change on the blazes which have torn through the state