Protests staged in Australia to demand action on climate change

CANBERRA - 20 September 2019: Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators, including many young activists, turned out for rallies across Australia on Friday, kicking off a day of worldwide protests to demand action on climate change, according to Australian local press.

More than 800 marches were planned on Friday in the United States, expected to draw on thousands of young people skipping school. Swedish teenage activist Greta Thunberg, the figurehead of the climate school strike movement, is expected to attend a rally in New York's Thomas Paine Park.

Similar rallies were getting underway in dozens of countries, including the United Kingdom, France and Germany, where Chancellor Angela Merkel plans to announce government measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The protests, billed as a "global climate strike," come ahead of a planned UN Climate Action Summit that begins in New York on Monday.