Hundreds Of Students Rally At US Capitol As Peers Worldwide Demand Climate Change Action

Hundreds of students in Washington, DC and nearby areas skipped school on Friday to join a rally at the US Capitol, one of scores of protests staged by young people around the world to demand immediate action on climate change

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th March, 2019) Hundreds of students in Washington, DC and nearby areas skipped school on Friday to join a rally at the US Capitol, one of scores of protests staged by young people around the world to demand immediate action on climate change.

The global protests, dubbed "Fridays for Future," saw scores of teenagers, young children and their parents gather at the seat of the US Congress to denounce the Trump administration's environmental policies.

"Our generation has never lived in a normal climate," one young student protester told Sputnik.

But she welcomed the fact that young people around the world were now mobilizing to demand change. "It is time to act now, and we will win," she said.

US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar from the state of Minnesota was introduced as the only official who joined the protest near the Capitol.

"I am here because I believe that people in this country and this world deserve to live with clean water and clean air," Omar said from the stage.

She vowed to continue to pursuing legislation aimed at investing billion of Dollars in clean energy and protecting the country's water and air from pollution.

The congresswoman accused President Donald Trump and his administration of serving the interests of big corporations at the expense of the environment. "It is our responsibility to invest in clean energy," she said.

The young protesters carried homemade signs bearing messages including "Inaction is not an option" and "There is no Planet B," while chanting slogans such as "No more coal, no more oil. Keep your climate in the soil."

The global student strike, organized in more than 100 countries, was expected to become the biggest event dedicated to the fight against climate change in world history.

In the United States, demonstrations were also are taking place in New York, Los Angeles and more than 200 cities across the country, according to the Fridays for Future website.

According to the protest website, which unites activists around the world, the movement was inspired by Greta Thunberg, a Swedish teenager who has been demonstrating every Friday outside Sweden's parliament. Thunberg has even been reportedly nominated for the Nobel Peace prize by Norwegian lawmakers.