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Australia Kickstarts Global Climate Protests

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Student activists from School Strike for Climate Australia (SS4C) hold a "Solidarity Sit-down" outside the office of the Liberal Party of Australia in Sydney, Nov. 29, 2019.
Student activists from School Strike for Climate Australia (SS4C) hold a "Solidarity Sit-down" outside the office of the Liberal Party of Australia in Sydney, Nov. 29, 2019.

Thousands of people in Asia and Europe took part in rallies Friday, demanding more action on climate change. Protesters urged world leaders to frame solutions at a U.N. conference next week.

The global rallies started in Australia, where there was anger and defiance as thousands of students walked out of classes to demand stronger action on climate change, which they blamed for making the country's bushfire crisis worse.

In November, parts of eastern Australia were hit by an unprecedented fire emergency. Six people died and hundreds of homes were destroyed. Dozens of blazes continue to burn.

Scientists are warning that global warming is making Australia's annual bushfire season longer and more extreme. Teenage protesters in Sydney said the threat is there for all to see.

Youth for Climate activists hold a banner which reads: "climate justice" as they demonstrate during a day of protest to denounce the annual Black Friday shopping frenzy in Nantes, France, Nov. 29, 2019.
Youth for Climate activists hold a banner which reads: "climate justice" as they demonstrate during a day of protest to denounce the annual Black Friday shopping frenzy in Nantes, France, Nov. 29, 2019.

Grim outlook

"The fires are bigger, the fires are more dangerous, the fires are in spring, not summer," one male teen said. "We are not in summer yet. I will tell you one thing unequivocally: If we do not so anything about climate change, it is going to get worse."

"A lot of us in our generation cannot vote right now," a female youth said, "but as soon as we can vote, there is going to be a massive change, because we are going to start taking over and and we are going to start fixing things."

Demonstrators have called on Australia to end its use of fossil fuels. That, in the short term, appears unlikely. Coal generates most of the nation's electricity, and exports pump billions of dollars into the economy.

Thousands of demonstrators attend a protest climate strike rally of the 'Friday For Future Movement' in front of the Federal Administrative Court building in Leipzig, Germany, Nov. 29, 2019.
Thousands of demonstrators attend a protest climate strike rally of the 'Friday For Future Movement' in front of the Federal Administrative Court building in Leipzig, Germany, Nov. 29, 2019.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is an ardent supporter of the coal industry. He castigated local council leaders for linking the deadly bushfires with climate change. Morrison has insisted Australia is taking its environmental obligations seriously.

2,000-plus rallies

Friday's climate strikes were expected to take place in more than 2,000 cities in 153 countries, according to the Friday for Future movement. There were protests in Mumbai, Tel Aviv, Vienna and Frankfurt.

A climate change activist lies on the ground as youths stage a "drop dead" flash mob protest against climate change consequences at Lumpini Park in Bangkok, Thailand, Nov. 29, 2019.
A climate change activist lies on the ground as youths stage a "drop dead" flash mob protest against climate change consequences at Lumpini Park in Bangkok, Thailand, Nov. 29, 2019.

Teenage Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who has galvanized a global environmental movement of young people, was to have joined a student strike in Lisbon, Portugal, but her ecologically friendly voyage by yacht across the Atlantic Ocean from New York was hit by high winds, delaying her arrival by a few days.

The protests came ahead of the annual U.N. climate conference that starts Monday in Madrid.

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