Fridays for Future announces new mass protests in Germany in September

The climate activist movement Fridays for Future (FfF) has announced a new "global climate action day" on 25 September on which it will hold protest events in hundreds of German cities. The movement that to a large extent is driven by school students said it will organise coordinated protests around the world calling for immediate action to achieve the Paris Climate Agreement's goal of limiting global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. "We might miss this goal already in the next years. At the same time, billions of euros are put into the coal, oil and gas industry in the context of coronavirus recovery programmes by Germany and the EU," said FfF activist Line Niedeggen. The movement said the protests would be carried out in accordance with measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus and include "human chains, bicycle protests and art performances."

FfF had moved its protests online in March due to the coronavirus lockdown measures in many countries, after having mobilised one of the largest civil society protests ever in Germany in September 2019 that called on the government to step up its climate action efforts. The climate strikes that were inspired by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg gained a large followership in Germany and has already had a substantial impact on the country's climate debate.