- Title: Coronavirus prompts Friday climate rallies go online
- Date: 13th March 2020
- Summary: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (MARCH 13, 2020) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) FRIDAYS FOR FUTURE CLIMATE ACTIVIST, SOPHIA AXELSSON, 19, SAYING: "If you are healthy and your authorities have said that it's okay to be outside then we encourage you to continue to strike, but if you can become sick or if someone close to you can become sick then we encourage you to stay home and strike from home using the digital strike."
- Embargoed: 27th March 2020 15:26
- Keywords: #ClimateStrikeOnline #DigitalStrike Friday's for Future Greta Thunberg climate strike coronavirus social media
- Location: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN AND SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES
- City: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN AND SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES
- Country: Sweden
- Topics: Climate Change,Climate Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA005C4W075Z
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The Fridays for Future youth movement took its climate protest online on Friday (March 13) due to the spreading coronavirus outbreak, with activists from all over the world posting photos of them striking.
Swedish teen Greta Thunberg, the founder of the Fridays for Future youth movement, had called on fellow climate activists to move the weekly rallies online as a growing number of countries are banning large public gatherings in an effort to curb the spread of the virus.
She posted a picture with her dog and signature "School strike for the climate" sign with the hashtags #DigitalStrike, #ClimateStrikeOnline and #schoolstrike4climate.
Thunberg attracts large crowds to protest against climate change. Thousands turned out to hear her in the English city of Bristol last month and thousands more joined her at a rally in Brussels earlier this month.
Sophia Axelsson, 19, and her twin sister Isabelle, who are now both students at Stockholm University, have been striking on Fridays since December 2018. On Friday, Isabelle posted a picture from home while Sophia chose to protest near parliament.
"If you are healthy and your authorities have said that it's okay to be outside then we encourage you to continue to strike, but if you can become sick or if someone close to you can become sick then we encourage you to stay home and strike from home using the digital strike," Sophia Axelsson, who studies biology and earth science, said.
The Fridays for Future movement calls on politicians to listen to climate scientists and take urgent action to against global warming.
(Production: Philip O'Connor, Eleanor Whalley, Ilze Filks) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2020. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
