CYPRUS: School students join global climate action

Hundreds of Cyprus school children joined a world day of action against climate change as they marched through the streets of Nicosia on Friday.

The protest is part of a global strike taking place to demand that world leaders take action against climate change and adopt urgent measures to stop an environmental meltdown.

The global strike is spearheaded by 16-year-old Swedish Greta Thurnberg,  a Swedish environmental activist who is credited with raising global awareness of the risks posed by climate change, and with holding politicians to account for their lack of action on the climate crisis.

In August 2018, at 15 years of age, Thunberg took time off school to demonstrate outside the Swedish parliament, holding up a sign calling for stronger climate action.

Soon, other students engaged in similar protests in their own communities.

Protesters in Nicosia responded to Thurnberg’s appeal to strike and skip school or work to take part in a demonstration demanding for global measures to protect the environment.