By Maggie Sawant, First Year Law
On an unseasonably warm day, hundreds of children gathered on College Green instead of attending school to demand more government action to combat climate change.
The age of the protesters ranged widely, with primary, secondary and University-age students all present at the protest. Bristol was one of 53 locations in the UK where these strikes took place, and 70,000 schoolchildren in 270 towns and cities are estimated to have taken part in these protests worldwide.
Hundreds of school strikers on Bristol College Green, protesting for action on climate change. pic.twitter.com/OwBZ8Mz2Xi
— Stephen Williams #FBPE (@StephenRW01) February 15, 2019
The crowd eventually moved to block the road adjacent to College Green, making it impossible for traffic to pass through and causing the police to divert all cars, buses and cyclists.
This global protest movement, known either as Youth Strike 4 Climate or School Strike for Climate, was started by student Greta Thunberg in August 2018, when she held a solo protest outside the Swedish Parliament. Today’s nationwide wave of protests mark the first time such strikes have taken place in the UK.
Featured images: Maggie Sawant / Epigram
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