And in Brussels, Belgium, an estimated 35,000 children held a one-day school strike Thursday, surrounding the European Parliament building and demanding urgent action on climate change. It was one of the largest student protests ever in the Belgian capital. Students said they’re ready to skip classes once a week until their demands are met.
Joppe Matthys: “We think that if we skip every Thursday, so we don’t go to school, that the big people in our country and in the world will say that it’s a problem and that they will do something about it.”
The students are following in the footsteps of now-16-year-old Greta Thunberg from Sweden, who is leading the school strike movement globally. She is now in Davos, Switzerland, addressing leaders at the World Economic Forum.