Climate strike – live: Millions across world demand urgent action to save planet in largest environmental protest in history
Demonstrations inspired by teenage Swedish activist Greta Thunberg take place ahead of UN climate summit in New York
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Your support makes all the difference.Tens of thousands of mostly students have taken to the streets of Australia and other Asia-Pacific countries as a day of worldwide demonstrations against climate change gets underway.
Millions of people around the world are expected to take part in what could be the largest climate protest in history. British students are preparing to walk out of lessons and lectures and adults are being encouraged to join them as they strike.
Protests inspired by the teenage Swedish activist Greta Thunberg are planned in around 150 countries as people demand world leaders take immediate action to limit the harmful effects of manmade climate change ahead of a environmental summit at the United Nations in New York on Monday, as the UN General Assembly opens.
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Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, thanked everyone who showed up at the central London demonstration for their very public display of "determination to combat climate change and to protect our environment and our planet".
He said: "An unequal and unjust world is something we have to deal with. It is not just us here, it is how we act together to bring about climate sustainability."
To cheers, he told the youngsters in the crowd that "you and a whole generation have brought the issue centre stage and I am absolutely delighted about that".
In condemning Donald Trump's actions on climate change, he said: "What is disgraceful is to have the president of a major country like the United States saying he will walk away from the Paris climate change accord.
"Let's have no more if this hand-holding of Donald Trump. Let's simply say that we want every country on board on this, every country fully signed up to Paris and going a lot further than that."
Paris is deploying thousands of police to protect landmarks and government buildings as yellow vest groups, unions and environmental activists plan a multitude of weekend protests.
Climate activists will demonstrate on Saturday to demand more action from the government and companies to reduce emissions and save the burning Amazon rainforest and the melting Arctic.
Green Party MP Caroline Lucas has recorded a message for those joining in the action, saying "never, ever believe anyone who tells you it doesn't make a difference".
Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson is with protesters in Glasgow.
Thousands of young people are marching in coal-reliant Poland to demand their elders fight global warming and protect the climate.
Many middle schools gave students a day off on Friday to enable them to take part in the global climate protest.
Colorful marches with banners reading "There is NO Planet B" walked through the capital Warsaw and many other cities.
Government critics said it is dragging its feet on its program of subsidies for families who do away with their coal-burning heaters that are largely responsible for smog, especially in southern regions.
A coal-producing nation with tens of thousands of jobs in mining, Poland relies for some 80 per cent of its energy on fossil fuels. The government's plan for phasing coal out is slow paced, reaching to 2050.
Poland's president and first lady have helped remove rubbish from a forest as part of a day of global action against climate change.
Andrzej Duda said the forest cleanup was a way to care for the environment and stressed protests calling for climate protections are being held around the world.
Mr Duda and Agata Kornhauser-Duda joined school students in central Poland's Puszcza Biala forest to pick up rubbish.
Residents of Africa's most populous city, Lagos in Nigeria, have joined a global day of demonstrations over climate change.
The low-lying city of more than 20 million people is among the many African coastal cities at risk from flooding due to global warming.
The continent is particularly vulnerable to climate change because it has the least-developed infrastructure to deal with it.
Environmentalist Desmond Majekodunmi said for the first time all of humanity faces a threat to their very existence, "so the only way we can overcome that problem is by coming together, forgetting our differences."
He called on people around the world to summon "the natural love that lies within all of us" and fight for survival.
A video from @philipbromwell showing the size of crowds in Dublin:
The determination of children around the world to raise fears of the effects of climate change was on show in Afghanistan, as 100 children - protected by troops on foot and in an armoured personnel carrier - marched in Kabul.
The AP news agency quoted Fardeen Barakzai, one of the organizers, saying Afghanistan’s youth wanted to do their part, despite the daily risk of attacks by insurgents.
Kabul is one of the world’s most polluted cities.
Bardeen said: “The goal is that we should have the same voice, like the other countries that are working for climate.
"We know war can kill a group of people, but climate can kill everyone.”
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