THE school strikes movement inspired by climate campaigner Greta Thunberg will hold protests across Scotland this week as part of a global day of action.
The demonstrations, being held by Fridays for Future Scotland, are expected to be the biggest gatherings since Covid restrictions eased.
Marches will be held in Glasgow, Stirling and Forres on Friday, with a rally taking place outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh. A protest will also be held in Ullapool.
Fridays for Future is a youth-led global movement, which started when teenager Thunberg sat in front of the Swedish parliament on schools days to call for stronger action on climate change.
Activist Sandy Boyd, 17, from Edinburgh, said the protests would be the first major demonstrations to be held by the Scottish group since covid restrictions eased.
READ MORE: Richard Walker: BBC shamefully twisted Greta Thunberg's words on Scotland
“There have been some smaller scale strikes with activists and organisers in our groups,” he said.
“These protests are taking place all over the world. We can see all around us the results of climate change – if you just look at the news these days, it is very evident we are in a complete climate breakdown.
“It’s about sending that message really clearly and strongly to politicians, that they have got to change their tune and try something different, instead of what they have been doing for that last 30 years, which is just constant talk and dialogue.
“We are still seeing emissions rise and we are still trying the same things every year – we are saying enough is enough, let’s change that system.”
The protests come ahead of the COP26 conference taking place in Glasgow from October 31 to November 12, which will see world leaders gather for key talks on how to limit global warming.
Last week UK Government minister Alok Sharma, the president of the summit, said it was the planet’s “last best chance of getting this right” when it comes to tackling climate change.
Boyd warned it was important that action was taken on critical issues such as phasing out fossil fuels.
“The COP26 being a focus in Scotland is a really powerful moment and we are hoping the Scottish and UK Government will step up to the plate and really deliver action, not words,” he said.
“The dialogue is fantastic, in many ways what they are saying is lovely. But they are not following through with it at all, and until they do we need to keep pressuring them to do that. COP26 is a fantastic opportunity for that.”
Thunberg initially said she would not attend the climate summit because of unfair vaccine roll-outs globally, but has since indicated she may attend.
Boyd said a meeting with Thunberg at the summit would be welcomed by the Scottish activists if she did.
He added: “Greta as a spokesperson for our movement is very inspiring and always someone you would want to meet, but she will be quite busy I imagine at COP26.”
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