Climate strike – live: Millions across world demand urgent action to save planet in largest environmental protest in history

The Green Party's Caroline Lucas says today's protest shows that young people "simply won't wait any longer" for world leaders to take action over the climate crisis.

The MP, who attended the demonstration in London today, said: "It feels like there is a real uprising. It feels like there is a real sense from young people in particular that they simply won't wait any longer.

"It is their future that is at stake and our generation, my generation, is responsible for not having done nearly enough to address that.

"They have enormous moral authority when they tell us that."

Lambeth Bridge has reopened after protesters blocked the road as part of the global climate strike.

Transport for London also confirmed that congestion around Trafalgar Square and the Strand has eased after the protests.

Greta Thunberg has said the huge numbers of people who are out demonstrating today is a "victory".

The 16-year-old activist, who was instrumental in sparking the global movement, watched news of climate strikes in Australia and the Pacific before going to bed in New York last night.

"I would never have predicted or believed that this was going to happen someday and so fast," she told the Associated Press.

It is now up to world leaders to act, the teenager said, adding they should "feel ashamed" if they don't.

Eight people have been arrested at the climate protest in London today, the Metropolitan Police has said.

Seven of those were for breaching conditions the force placed on the demonstrations. The Met had issued a section 14 order which restricted protesters to an area in Westminster and required the action to conclude by 3.30pm.

The arrests come after a small group of protesters attempted to block Lambeth Bridge. One man was also detained on suspicion of discharging a flare in a public place.

Commander Dave Musker, who was leading Scotland Yard's policing of the demo, said "the vast majority of today’s protesters abided by the conditions and the day ran smoothly".

Hundreds of people across the Balkans held protest marches as part of today's of global action against climate change.

Demonstrations have been held throughout Friday in several cities in Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia.

In the southern Bosnian city of Mostar, about 100 high school students held a protest march. Some held banners that read: "Save the World" and "Our home is burning!"

Several hundred young people have gathered in Split, on Croatia's Adriatic Sea coast, carrying a huge banner that urged: "Split, wake up!" Activists warned the city could face flooding due to global warming.

Hundreds people also marched through Serbia's capital Belgrade, in Montenegro's capital Podgorica, and in Croatia's Zagreb, pictured below.

Several thousand protesters, many of them high school age or younger, have been marching to Washington's Capitol Building - the seat of US Congress.

Some are carrying signs that read "there is no Planet B" and "this can't wait until I finish school."

Many of the young demonstrators spoke bitterly about the inability of their parents' generation to seriously confront the growing climate change threat, according to the Associated Press.

AJ Conermann, 15, from Washington told the news agency: "Our Earth is dying and if we don't do something about it, we die."

Another school pupil, Jessica Kulp, said it was "sad" that children were doing "the adults' jobs."

The 8th grader from nearby Silver Spring, Maryland, carried a sign that read: "Sorry I can't clean my room. I have to save the planet."

About 80 young people have gathered outside Rio de Janeiro's state legislature, some carrying signs saying "SOS Amazonia" and "Save our future."

One protester brandished a placard reading "Rio 2050" that showed the city's landmarks underwater, with the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue's head poking out from the sea.

Julia de Oliveira, a 16-year-old high school pupil at the demonstration, said: "We need this government to open its eyes."

Brazil has found itself at the centre of the global conversation about climate change in recent months as fires burning in the Amazon sparked an international outcry.

Yet country's president, Jair Bolsonaro, has effectively encouraged the destruction of the world's largest rainforest.

Tens of thousands of mostly young demonstrators have overflowed a New York City square as US activists join the wave of climate change protests around the world.

Demonstrators with signs reading "climate change is real" and "protect the earth, not the corporations" marched through Manhattan streets this morning.

New York City public schools say student absences for the climate strike will be excused, if the students have parental permission.

Thirteen-year-old protester Pearl Seidman said told Associated Press she was there with a message for president Donald Trump's administration: "If they can't be adults, we're going to be adults. Because someone needs to do it."

Trump announced in 2017 he was withdrawing the US from the international Paris agreement to fight global warming.

Climate protests are unfolding across the US, with hundreds of demonstrators taking to the cities in major cities and towns.

Associated Press have filed this from Virginia: 

Hundreds of people have gathered outside the Capitol in Richmond, Virginia, to take part in a wave of global protests demanding action on climate change.

Speakers at the rally Friday included a number of children who spoke about fearing for their futures.

The crowd of about 200 people chanted: "Climate change is not a lie. Do not let our planet die.

People held signs that said: "There is no Planet B," and "Leave a livable world for our youth." One woman waved an American flag.

Dozens of people left the rally and marched to the offices of Dominion Energy, where they protested a natural gas pipeline the company is developing with other energy companies.

The company, which has committed to reducing its carbon emissions, says the Atlantic Coast Pipeline is urgently needed.

Here is AP's dispatch from Florida, which scientists say faces being swamped by rising sea levels:

Hundreds of high school students shouted "Miami is under attack" at a protest at Miami Beach's city.

They were underlining their concerns over climate-related sea rise in their coastal city as they joined the global climate strike Friday.

Sixteen-year-old Aleksandar Demetriades said: "I'm scared that I am going to lose my house" and that climate change is one of his generation's defining issues.

With a coastline stretching 1,350 miles (2,170 kilometers), Florida faces some of the gravest risks from rising ocean levels.

In the Florida capital, 14-year-old Jessica Cao got her parents' permission to skip classes to join scores of activists in Tallahassee.

Cao said: "It's not cutting class if I'm doing it for the planet." She added that she feared US leaders weren't listening.