Students join city climate strike
Students and campaigners joined together in Chichester to demand action to solve the worldwide climate crisis.
An estimated 200 people turned up at Chichester’s market cross on Friday morning with attendees sounding the ‘alarm’ on climate change, giving speeches and forming a human chain up North Street.
Activities and speeches continued throughout the day.
One group of Chichester University students who attended Friday’s demonstration spoke of their frustration at the Government for not focusing enough on climate change. One of them said: “The Government is not doing enough and climate change is not being seen as a real priority.”
Another said about the planet: “It’s an incredible place and we are ruining it. Nobody owns the world but we are deciding we can destroy it and we have no respect for it. We want to have a future where it’s a nice place.”
Another group of young people also vented their frustrationatdecisionmakers. One said: “The Government is not doing enough to stop this. They are on the side of the big companies rather than on our side. We need to be heard so they are paying attention and will put it higher up the agenda.”
Stephanie Holmes, a student at Chichester High School’s sixth form, said she was ‘utterly fed up with the priorities of the Government at the moment’. She added: “It’s absolutely fantastic everybody is here in Chichester today. For such a long time the city has not seen many protests and we have seen quite a few recently and it’s inspiring to see so many of you here today. We need climate action now.”
At the University of Chichester lecturers and students showed support for the global climate strikes with a 30 minute ‘solidarity climate stoppage’.