Bay Area students join global climate strikes to call for gov't actions

Source: Xinhua| 2019-09-21 17:15:01|Editor: Lu Hui
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SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of students in the United States' San Francisco Bay Area took to the streets to join the Global Climate Strike held here and other Bay Area cities, calling for government actions to address climate change.

In San Francisco, hundreds of young high school and college students converged with other adult demonstrators who started their march at the federal building in downtown area, urging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Dianne Feinstein, both from San Francisco, to take actions on climate issues.

The protesters, holding signs reading "Less Fossil Fools," "Protect the Future" and "Global Climate Strike," densely packed the streets of San Francisco on miles of the students-led demonstrations in the city to express their concerns of climate impact on their future life.

Many of the students skipped classes to show up for the global climate walkout, although public school districts authorities did not plan to excuse them for their absence due to longstanding policy, safety concerns and loss of financial support from the state.

Local newspaper the San Francisco Chronicle quoted Carolyn Seaton, superintendent of Orinda Union School District in Contra Costa County, Northern California, as saying that the district would lose 46 U.S. dollars per student per day for unexcused absence.

The rally in San Francisco was the largest in the region, while similar protests were also staged in other Bay Area cities including Oakland, San Jose, Cupertino, Los Altos, Fremont, Richmond and Berkeley.

At the University of California at Berkeley, young protesters filled Sproul Plaza with rallies and marches to remind people of the acute awareness of the rapidly changing climate effects on their livelihoods.

In San Jose, hundreds of student activists gathered at the City Hall after marching through downtown as part of the worldwide Global Climate Strike to press for government actions to do something about climate change.

The rallies and protests on Friday were launched across the Bay Area ahead of the United Nations' Climate Action Summit scheduled for Sept. 23.

The global action was inspired by 16-year-old Swedish Greta Thunberg, who has staged weekly demonstrations under the slogan "Fridays for Future" over the past year, urging world leaders to ramp up more aggressive efforts against climate change.

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