2023-11-12 19:01:00
Environmental activist Greta Thunberg joined some 70,000 participants on Sunday in an environmental march in Amsterdam, “the biggest ever organized” in the Netherlands according to its initiators, to demand more attention from the authorities to climate change , 10 days before early elections are held in the Netherlands.
Carrying signs proclaiming “Our house is on fire” and “Climate justice now”, protesters gathered in Amsterdam’s central square before marching through the city.
It was organized by a coalition including Extinction Rebellion, Fridays for Future, Oxfam and Greenpeace. According to them, it is the “largest environmental demonstration ever organized” in the country, claiming 70,000 participants.
“As crises continue to mount and six years remain to achieve the Netherlands’ climate goals by 2030, the upcoming elections are the most crucial ever,” the organizations stressed in a statement .
“The atmosphere is incredible. I can feel the energy of many young people who want to change the world,” Tijn Veenhoven, a 19-year-old political science student, told AFP. Ieke Snel, 18, a physics student, expressed his anger “because no one is doing anything,” said Ieke Snel.
“We are not on the verge of a catastrophe, we are experiencing it,” Greta Thunberg told the crowd. “People on the front lines of the climate crisis have been suffering the consequences for decades and have been sounding the alarm, but we are not listening,” she lamented.
His speech was briefly interrupted by a demonstrator, who claimed that the demonstration gave too much emphasis to Dutch politics to the detriment of the climate issue.
According to polls, the center-right VVD of outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte and a new party, the NSC, led by anti-corruption champion Pieter Omtzigt, are tied for the vote.
A coalition of the Greens and the left-wing PvdA is credited with third place in the polls. This training is led by Frans Timmermans, former heavyweight at the European Commission, and architect of the EU Green Deal.
Ahead of COP28, which will be held from November 30 to December 12 in Dubai, climate change ranks fifth among the issues that concern voters, behind housing, healthcare, immigration and poverty , according to a latest survey carried out by I&O Research.
Climate change is currently considered a less important issue than during the last 2021 elections, according to this poll.
12/11/2023 17:59:41 – Amsterdam (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
#Greta #Thunberg #joins #tens #thousands #major #climate #protest