Several hundred climate activists march through Brussels

A new climate march in Brussels got underway at around 6.30 pm on Friday at the Brussels Central train station. The march, organised by groups like Rise for Climate and Youth for Climate, is part of the Global Climate Strike that will see about 100,000 people take to the streets worldwide on Friday during more than 500 demonstrations in 40 countries. In Brussels, several hundred people take part.

With this march, the climate organisations want to make their voices heard again. They call for respecting the Paris Agreement and the European Green Deal, rejecting austerity policies and climate pauses as a response to the global climate crisis, and ending government subsidies for fossil fuels. Belgian governments are specifically called on to sign the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The concrete aim is to appeal to the heads of state who will gather at the United Nations Summit of the Future in New York on 22 and 23 September.

A few years ago, climate marches in Belgium attracted tens of thousands of people. At the previous climate march in June, about five hundred activists turned up.

^{The European march and rally for the climate, democracy and against the far right and austerity, in Brussels, on 23 June 2024 © BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK}