GRETA Thunberg led a huge march in the heart of Glasgow on Friday as thousands of young people from all over the world called for urgent action to tackle the climate crisis.
Protesters marched from Kelvingrove Park to George Square, demanding an end to fossil fuel extraction and telling world leaders the voices of the youth must be heard.
Upwards of 10,000 people attended the rally, which saw people of all ages voice their anger at a lack of action to curb emissions.
It comes as Glasgow hosts the historic COP26 climate conference where world leaders seek to limit the rise in temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
READ MORE: COP26 Live: All the news as the UN summit focuses on youth and empowerment
Thunberg gave a damning indictment of the climate talks, labelling them as a “greenwash festival of empty promises".
She told the crowd: “The voices of future generations are drowning in their greenwash and empty words and promises. But the facts do not lie. And we know that our emperors are naked.”
Before the march concluded at George Square, several young activists told The National why they attended the packed march.
“We are here to make people act to save our planet,” said nine-year-old Mollie.
His mum Tie added: “The number of people here speaks volumes. You’d hope the world's leaders would take note but many have not.
“Maybe this will be the thing that makes them wake up.”
Another young boy at the march said: “We have to take action for climate change – especially here in the UK.”
He said the people in charge should listen to young people, who will have to fix the planet if nothing is done now.
It comes as COP26 focuses on Youth and Public Empowerment.
A week in, COP26 has seen the spotlight shone on Scotland as leaders negotiate a way to lead the world to a carbon-neutral future.
The climate summit has seen US president Joe Biden, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and major world leaders speak at the event.
Activists banged drums and waved banners as they marched across Glasgow.
One young activist told The National why she decided to march on Friday: “We are advocating for climate justice. There are so many marginalised communities that couldn’t be here today that COP26 didn’t address.
“We want to see actual change - we don’t want false promises anymore. We are here for system change, not climate change.”
She said the communities who are harmed the most by climate change have contributed the least CO2 emissions.
While another young protester said: “Especially today it being a school strike, seeing so many people here is so exciting – especially because young people haven’t been addressed with COP26.”
The protest ended in George Square where it heard from a variety of speakers, including Swedish activist Thunberg.
And one mother brought along her baby, who held a little sign which read: “There is no planet B”.
A teenager said it was important young people get involved and governments must act now on climate.
“The amount of people here shows that there is hope for our future to actually make the change possible and that politicians will actually listen to us.
“Currently, we don’t believe world leaders are listening to us. All that has happened so far shows that politicians haven’t been listening at all.”
The march saw a heavy police presence from officers from around the UK, with police on bikes, horses and even a helicopter circling above.
The peaceful protest was organised by the Fridays for Future group, which started after Thunberg famously went on a school strike on Fridays in 2018, protesting outside the Swedish parliament.
READ MORE: Greta Thunberg and Vanessa Nakate address George Square climate rally
The strikes then spread across the world, leading millions of young people across more than 100 countries to go on school strikes to protest climate inaction.
One nine-year-old said: “When all the world leaders say kids can save the planet to me it just sort of feels our jobs here is done it’s up to you.”
While his mother said: “We think it is so important to save the environment. One of the reasons I am here with my kid is he says adults keep telling him it’s up to the next generation to save this and he is wondering why are the politicians not doing it, it’s actually their job.
“He’s just a kid, he doesn’t have the power yet to save things.”
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