On 20 September 2019 at gatherings large and small across Australia during the Global Climate Strike in excess of an estimated 300,000 people met to protest government and industry inaction in the face of global climate change.
Approximately 268,500 of these people participated in all eight capital cities.
Protests were reportedly also held at another 104 cities, towns and villages.
Echo NetDaily estimates close to 6,000 students and supporters participated in Byron Bay, 3,400 in Lismore and 1,580 in Pottsville.
In Grafton 200 people listened to stern words directed at prime minister and parliament.......
The Daily Examiner, 21 September 2019, p.3:
With more than 200 people marching down Prince St, it would be hard to deny something is building.
Supported by a sizeable contingent of adults, students in the School Strike 4 Climate marched through the Grafton CBD to protest inaction on climate change.
In a rousing speech in Market Square, strike leader and Year 12 student Shiann Broderick called out Prime Minister Scott Morrison and said a select few were benefiting from coal projects that were “sacrificing our future”.
Ms Broderick sent a clear message students would not be backing down after Mr Morrison and others in the community had earlier criticised the strikes. “We will not restrict our activism to out-of-school hours because this is the only way to make you listen,” she said.
“You are unhappy that we are not at school but I would be at school today if I didn’t have to teach you how to do your job.
“You say you don’t support schools being turned into parliaments but I think we should turn the parliament into a school since you so obviously need educating.”
With the crowd buzzing, Grafton High student Oskar Robertson said he was “sick and tired” of not having a say in decisions affecting his future and was “tired of old men in suits deciding on things that won’t even affect them”.
He too urged the crowd to keep up the fight against those who continued to “pass up our future for money”.
“If they don’t heed our demands and pass us off as some dumb kids trying to get off school for the day, we will shout so loud we will rock Parliament House to its foundations,” he said.
“We don’t want dirty coal and gas, we want clean energy that won’t poison our lungs and the lungs of the earth, that won’t send us hurtling towards an extinction event.”.......
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