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Climate strikes scheduled across Scotland by young activists

This news post is over 2 years old
 

Stirkes come a month before the crucial COP26 conference in Glasgow

Young Scots are to join in climate strikes across the world on Friday 24 September.

Friday for Future Scotland - previously knows as Scottish Youth Climate Strike -  has announced it will join with activists around the globe to demand greater action on the climate crisis.

The climate strikes will be held in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stirling and Ullapool.

There will be over 700 protests worldwide with hundreds of thousands of people expected to attend.

The strike comes just over a month before the crucial UN climate talks take place in Glasgow after the IPCC has delivered a code red climate warning for humanity.

Young people are calling on both the UK and Scottish Governments to act in line with what is required, such as committing to a just transition for oil workers into renewable energy, creating accessible public transport and committing to higher emissions targets as our current ones do not align with the Paris Agreement, to name a few.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, over 40,000 people took to the streets across Scotland on September 20th 2019, joining millions worldwide.

As physical protesting no longer became safe, the strikers switched to digital striking and other online actions. Restrictions are now lessening and so they have decided to return to physical protesting whilst putting in place safeguards.

Glasgow will be marching from Kelvingrove Park to George Square starting at 11am, Stirling will also be marching starting and ending at Port Street at 2pm. In Edinburgh, there will be a rally outside the Scottish Parliament starting at 11am and Ullapool will protest at the Clock Tower on Quay Street at 8:30am.

Cora, an activist from Edinburgh, said: “While the covid19 pandemic has taken over the world, the climate crisis hasn't gone anywhere and has only continued to get worse.

"It has ravaged countless towns through floods across Europe, the wildfires in North America, droughts causing famines in Madagascar and Iran. We can't afford to continue to ignore this crisis because the consequences will be catastrophic.”

Dylan Hamilton, 17, from West Lothian, added: “Scotland is not following the current science, we are using far more than our fair share of emissions to stay in line with the Paris Agreement. Real action has not been taken, despite many great promises from the government.

“The recent IPCC report has given us a code red warning, we can’t afford to move slowly anymore.”

To ensure the protests do not put people at risk from coronavirus there will be precautions taken including wearing masks and social distancing.

There will be organisers from Fridays For Future encouraging all participants, unless they are medically exempt, to follow these guidelines throughout the protests.

If the risk of spreading the virus becomes too high to hold physical demonstrations, the organisers are prepared to cancel the strikes.