The appeal of Greta Thunberg was heard. From Sydney to Tokyo, via Berlin and New York, nearly 5,000 events were organized on Friday around the world for the "Global Climate Strike". Young people were expected to leave school to protest on the eve of the opening of the UN climate summit in New York on Monday.
"Changing states, societies and people's minds"
In Paris, too, the call was followed by middle and high school students. They all had the same strong message to convey: "Today it is the young, but tomorrow, it would have to be everyone on the street for the climate". Their objective ? "Changing states, societies and people's minds is an emergency."
For these young students, it was necessary to dry the courses this Friday. A speech not always easy to make parents hear. "I had a discussion with my mother who did not want me to go because she told me that walking is useless, but I'm still young and I want to believe it" explains a 14-year-old girl at the microphone of Europe 1, before continuing: "it is with world events that we can change things and we sensitize the most people."
The world's best in New York
This Friday was a way to put pressure on world leaders, who will be meeting Monday in New York. The UN's special climate summit is expected to bring together some 100 heads of state and government, including Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel. With a few notable exceptions, such as US President Donald Trump and his Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro, many international leaders embrace the idea of a climate emergency. But they are expected on the concrete details of their plans.