Students around the world miss classes to take a stand with Greta

Students around the world missed classes to take to the streets, from the South Pacific to the edge of the Arctic Circle.

They were inspired by 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who began holding solitary demonstrations outside the Swedish parliament last year.

Since then, the weekly protests have snowballed from a handful of cities to hundreds, driven by social media-savvy students and dramatic headlines about the impact of climate change.

Greta, who was recently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, was cheered for her blunt message to leaders at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland this year, when she told them: “I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day.”

Protests were being held in cities in more than 100 countries including Hong Kong, New Delhi, India, and Wellington, New Zealand.

In Berlin 10,000 protesters, most of them young students, gathered in a central square and marched through the government quarter.

The march was ending with a demonstration outside Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office.

Scientists have backed the protests, with thousands signing petitions in support of the students in Britain, Finland and Germany.

In 2015, world leaders agreed in Paris to a goal of keeping the Earth’s global temperature rise by the end of the century well below 2C, but the world is on track for an increase of 4C.

Mrs Merkel and French president Emmanuel Macron have publicly welcomed the student protests, even as their policies have been criticised as too limited by environmental activists.

Picture: Getty. Inspiration: Activist Greta Thunberg, 16.