Thousands of students skipped school to take to the streets of Berlin as part of a growing worldwide youth movement urging governments to take faster action against climate change.
Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg, who inspired the protests across the world, joined the rally on Friday to march through the Government district.
The 16-year-old was to address the crowd later at the landmark Brandenburg Gate and is also meeting with scientists at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.
The Berlin climate change rally was one of more than 20 being held around the country.
Felix Osebold, 19, a student from the western city of Essen, said: “The young people who are standing here and demonstrating everywhere in Germany now can definitely make a difference, and also will be seen by the politicians.
“It can’t be that nothing is happening.”
Protester Gabriele Konradi brought her seven-year-old daughter Valerie to the protest and they were part of a group holding signs featuring slogans including “change the system, not the climate”.
Valerie said she hoped “people will not produce so much garbage anymore”.
The weekly “Fridays for Future” protests have been largely welcomed by German politicians, although some have criticised students for protesting during school time.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has called the demonstrations “a very good initiative” and said that she welcomed them.
Thunberg started last year holding solitary demonstrations outside the Swedish parliament to urge quicker action to fight climate change.
Inspired by her effort, the weekly protests have now snowballed from a handful of cities to hundreds, fuelled by concerns about the impact of climate change during the students’ lifetimes.
Some scientists estimate that the protesters will be in their 40s and 50s, maybe even 30s, when the world will reach the dangerous levels of warming that international climate agreements are trying to prevent.
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