STRIKING TO SAVE THE WORLD
Schoolkids hit streets to save world
AN ARMY of young protesters took to the streets of Scotland to save the world – joined by Scots comedy legend Sir Billy Connolly.
The Big Yin stood side by side with an estimated 10,000 demonstrators, including schoolchildren and students, in Glasgow.
Thousands of youngsters marched in towns and cities around the planet as they went on strike from school to demand urgent climate change action.
The protest was part of a movement started a year ago by 16-year-old Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thunberg.
Protests have now spread across 150 countries, with yesterday’s action billed as the biggest so far.
Thousands gathered in Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Park before setting off on a march which ended at the city’s George Square. Glasgow University student Anna Warren, 18, said adults were being encouraged to join young people at the protests.
She said: “This is where we can all come together to call on the government to make changes.”
Organisers in Edinburgh said about 15,000 people took part in the capital.
Teaching union the Educational Institute of Scotland urged local authorities not to punish pupils who take part in the strikes.
General secretary Larry Flanagan said it did “not encourage pupils to participate”.
But he added: “We believe their right to do so should be respected and participants should not be sanctioned.”