The Fridays for Future youth movement took its climate protest online on Friday (March 13) due to the spreading coronavirus outbreak, with activists from all over the world posting photos of them striking.
Lisa Bernhard reports.
Coronavirus prompts Friday climate rallies go online
[UPSOUND GRETA THUNBERG AND OTHERS MARCHING] This is what 17-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg’s weekly school strikes usually look like… And this is what they looked like Friday… after the Swedish teen called on fellow climate activists to move their weekly rallies online due to the coronavirus.
Thunberg, founder of the Fridays for Future movement, earlier this week urged young people on Twitter to join a ‘digital strike’ by posting photos of themselves online and using hashtags such as #ClimateStrikeOnline.
Thunberg wrote, “We’ll have to find new ways to create public awareness & advocate for change that don't involve too big crowds,” as a growing number of countries are banning large public gatherings in an effort to curb the spread of the virus.
Nineteen-year-old Sophia Axelsson is a fellow Fridays for Future activist: (SOUNDBITE) (English) FRIDAYS FOR FUTURE CLIMATE ACTIVIST, SOPHIA AXELSSON, 19, SAYING: "In respect to people in risk groups and spreading the virus we have decided to take the climate strike online to lessen the big crowds gathering and lessen the spread of the virus." Thunberg attracts large crowds to protest against climate change.
Thousands turned out to hear her in the English city of Bristol last month and thousands more joined her at a rally in Brussels earlier this month.