Tens of thousands of protesters for “climate justice” in Glasgow and the world

Demanding “climate justice”, tens of thousands of protesters will occupy the center of Glasgow for the second day in a row in a global mobilization day, after Swedish activist Greta Thunberg denounced “the failure” of the climate conference COP26.

• Greta Thunberg speaks out: Glasgow COP26 is ‘a failure’
• Thousands of young people protest in Glasgow and demand climate and racial justice
• Which are the countries in the world that cut the most trees and why are three in Latin America among the first

“About 50,000 people are expected to participate in the march,” which will depart at noon (12h00 GMT) from the central Kelvingrove Park and three hours later should reach Glasgow Green, at the other end of the Scottish city, police announced.

The organizers, the COP26 Coalition platform, which foresees up to 100,000 protesters, called for dozens of solidarity mobilizations around the world, from Australia to Brazil, through South Korea and Canada.

In the protests in Sydney and Melbourne, participants denounced COP26 as “a comedy” and described the position of their government, the defender of the country’s mining industry, as “absolute shame”.

“Enough blah, blah, climate action now,” read a banner.

In Seoul, 500 people called for concrete actions from the authorities in this country that wants to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 but relies heavily on imported coal to meet its energy needs.

In Glasgow, the protest will gather from young activists who already expressed their frustration in the streets on Friday, to the environmental civil disobedience movement Extinction Rebellion (XR), known for its daring actions that paralyze cities and often end in numerous arrests.

Scotland’s police, who deployed some 10,000 officers a day during the two-week conference, announced that they would facilitate peaceful demonstrations and allow “illegal protests to some extent”.

Divided into themes, including indigenous communities, anti-racism or the defense of housing, the main column must converge with other minor and cycling groups that will unite from all over Scotland.

At the end, a large rally will be organized with speakers such as Vanessa Nakate from the “Fridays for the Future” movement started by Thunberg.

“This Saturday will be the first time that I speak out on climate change and I am very excited to join all those who have been working hard for years to be heard,” said Iona, a 23-year-old art student quoted by the organizers.

“It will be very important to put pressure on world leaders meeting at COP26 and show them that we hold them to account,” he added.

– “Bla bla bla” –

Delegates from almost 200 countries are in Glasgow to find a way to meet the objectives set in 2015 by the Paris Agreement to limit the increase in global average temperature between 1.5ºC and 2ºC and avoid the devastating natural disasters that each additional tenth of a degree.

In the middle of the negotiations under the aegis of the United Nations, some countries have pledged this week to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, to stop using coal as an energy source, to end foreign financing of fossil fuels , to curb deforestation and reduce the emission of methane.

All this after a major study showed that global carbon emissions are on track to reach pre-pandemic levels by 2021, which dramatically reduced all economic activity, starting with transcontinental flights.

But during the great march that gathered thousands of activists on Friday on the day dedicated by COP26 to youth, the protesters showed their dissatisfaction with what they consider to be pure verbiage.

“It is no secret that COP6 is a failure,” Thunberg, 18, launched into the crowd. “This is no longer a climate conference. It is a global festival of image washing, ”it is“ a two-week celebration of ‘nothing happens here’ and blah, blah, blah, ”he lashed out.

Negotiators will pause Sunday ahead of what is shaping up to be a frantic week of tug of war on key but divisive issues such as rules governing carbon markets and transparency so that everyone can keep an eye on others doing what. that they promise.

The commitments to reduce emissions for 2030 with which the countries arrived at the beginning of the conference leave the Earth on the path of a warming of + 2.7ºC by the end of the century, experts warn.

Until now, the increase in global average temperature has been 1.1ºC compared to the pre-industrial era and is already causing increasingly intense fires and droughts, destroying habitats and causing population displacements around the world.

Brianna Fruean, a Samoan member of the Pacific Climate Warriors, insisted that the time had come for world leaders to listen to the protesters.

“We refuse to be only the victims of this crisis. We are fighting and the world will listen to us this Saturday, ”he said.

RECOMMENDED VIDEO

IT MAY INTEREST YOU

• COP26: China and Russia refute criticism of Biden on his climate commitment
• Africa calls for more funds from the international community to adapt to climate change
• COP 26: what is it, why is it important and where is it taking place this year?
• Biden accuses China of turning its back on climate fight at COP26
• COP26: world leaders commit to reduce methane emissions by 30% by 2030

.

Deshawn