On Sunday, the streets of Brussell were filled with tens of thousands of climate activists, some dressed as endangered species, demanding world leaders to take tougher action in fighting climate change ahead of the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow starting this month.
At least 80 climate organizations also took part in the protest, mobilizing the activists in the hope that the protest would be the biggest since COVID-19 restrictions limited public gatherings.
“After you’ve seen all the disasters we have seen this summer, it’s really crucial that we move now. Because everybody knows what the problem is,” said Xavier De Wannemaeker, a protestor with Extinction Rebellion.
“What do we do when we destroy the planet? We have nothing else. Human beings have to live in this world. And there is only one world,” said another activist, Lucien Dewanaga.
The activists were worried that the world leaders attending the upcoming U.N. Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, which begins on October 31, would produce nothing but lip service.
The activist hoped that the summit would result in greater commitments to cut global emissions, limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
