A Greek student holds a banner during a school strike for climate change in Athens, Greece, on Sept. 20, 2019. The School Strike for Climate on Fridays for Future (FFF) is an international movement of students who take time off from class to participate in demonstrations, in order to prevent further global warming and climate change. In Greece, high school students in 14 cities all over the country decided to skip classes, joining the initiative. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos)
ATHENS, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- "We are the new generation and we want you with us!" With these words, Greek students addressed their fellow citizens, inviting them to join them at the Day of International Action on Friday to save the planet from climate change.
The School Strike for Climate on Fridays for Future (FFF) as it is called, is an international movement of students who take time off from class to participate in demonstrations, in order to prevent further global warming and climate change.
In Greece, high school students in 14 cities all over the country, from Athens and Patras in the northern Peloponnese, to Chania on Crete island and Larisa of Thessaly region, decided to skip classes, joining the initiative.
In the Greek capital, the march started from Syntagma square in the center of Athens.
It was the first in a series of actions that will take place until Sept. 28 and includes exchange of clothes, garbage collection and a march with bikes. During the march young demonstrators shouted slogans such as "We want change", "The earth is dying, let us all be united", "There is no planet B" and "Think globally act locally against climate change".
"The message of today's gathering is that in all the cities of the world we must all put a stone in the big mosaic to deal with the climate crisis. We are talking about climate crisis and not climate change because of the great destruction of the earth's natural resources. The critical thing is that we are not defenseless against it, it is up to us to change things, to put more green in our cities and change our energy policies," Athens city councilor, Nasos Iliopoulos, told Xinhua.
According to Iliopoulos, Athens needs more green spaces, and a new waste management and energy policy. "We are here to complain about the consequences of climate change and to act for nature, flora, fauna, the natural environment, our lives, our own future," Evgenia, a high school graduate, told Xinhua.
The young people of Greece organized their own dynamic protest against the inadequate response to the climate crisis on the occasion of Global Climate Strike Week, which takes place worldwide from Sept. 20 to Sept. 27, 2019.
Meanwhile 31 organizations form the "Alliance for Climate" in the country and supported the Greek student movement, demanding an end to the age of fossil fuels and climate justice for everyone. (1 euro =1.10 U.S. dollars)
