Climate strikes held around the world – as it happened

Students in Nicosia have been joining the protests.

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Young Leo may have captured this young woman’s heart – but she may also be pleased with Old Leo, who has become a bit of an environmental activist and tweeted in support of the school strikers last week:

Kumi Naidoo, the secretary-general of Amnesty International who as a youth protested against apartheid in South Africa, has written about the similarities in the movements.

Those who lived under apartheid know exactly what it means to live with an inherent threat to your existence. But rather than give in to the fear that it was too big to take on, we had no choice but to trust in the power of our individual actions. There are many lessons here for the climate change movement.

Read more here:

Cat Smith, the UK Labour party’s shadow youth minister, has welcomed the strikes:

Labour stands in solidarity with young people across the UK who are taking a stand over the government’s shameful lack of leadership on climate change.

Today’s strike demonstrates that young people care deeply about environmental issues and will use their collective power to bring about meaningful change. This should serve as a wakeup call to the political establishment that young people’s views can no longer be ignored, and urgent action is needed to tackle the escalating ecological crisis.

Germany is among the countries that have seen the most widespread protests to date, and today is no exception. Thousands of students are striking in cities across the country, despite inclement weather.

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In Belgium and France, some trade unions are planning worker strikes in solidarity with the students.

Yesterday Gina Heyrman of the Belgian socialist union ABVV-FGTB drew a comparison between today’s action and the nationwide French strikes of May 1968, which were also sparked by student protests.

She told my colleague Arthur Neslen: “This is the first time we have had a political strike together with young people. Maybe we’re at the beginning of a new era. I hope so. Everyone talks about the climate now. Everyone is aware of it, thanks to the students.”

In Paris’s financial district, La Defense, students have blocked the headquarters of the bank Société Générale.

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15 Mar 201905.36 EDT

Daniel Hurst

Young people demanding climate justice marched through Tokyo’s famous Shibuya scramble crossing as part of the climate strike today. About 130 people – including school and university students and other supporters – joined in the march, which started at the United Nations University and wound its way through Tokyo streets including the busy Omotesando shopping street.

One of the organisers, Ten Maekawa, 20, led the crowd in chants of “What do we want? Climate justice! When do we want it? Now!” Maekawa told the Guardian afterwards that he was happy with the turnout, as numbers had increased since the last time they did a similar march in Tokyo.

He explained why he believed it was important for youth to mobilise on this issue: “In 2030, the earth will be in danger because of climate change. They’re responsible for the future, so it’s very important for the young generation to speak up about climate change.”

He hopes to organise another rally soon and build on those efforts.

A panel of strikers from all over the world have told us why they’re taking action today. Here are a selection of their reasons:

Over time, as the torrential rains became more and more frequent, and led to floods, I saw the balance of nature change

I don’t want to live in a mask for the rest of my life

There were no rains on our farm last year so we couldn’t cultivate any crops

Read the full piece here:

Nepal, the second highest country in the world behind Bhutan, has seen glaciers receding and floods increasing as a result of climate change. Students there have been on strike demanding action.

Hundreds of students have gathered outside Helsinki’s cathedral to protest

Meanwhile in Oulu, close to the Arctic Circle, a similar but smaller protest is taking place.