Thousands of Scottish schoolchildren strike from school in global climate protest

Youngsters streamed down the Royal Mile and gathered outside the Scottish Parliament to hear speakers urge immediate change.

It marked the second global action this year, with more than 1,000 schoolchildren descending on Holyrood in March.

Anna McDiarmid, 16, from Biggar, travelled through to Edinburgh to attend the protest.

She said: "I just feel that not enough is being done. Every day it terrifies me that our lives are under threat and no one seems to care."

Her friend Gracie Christie, 17, from Dunfermline, added: "It's really, really important to just do something — even if it doesn't seem like a lot."

Eleanor Blackburn, 38, also travelled through from Dunfermline with her three children.

She said: “It’s important. It’s now very, very urgent – it’s a tipping point, and the kids are learning about it and it was important for them to feel empowered to do something about it.”

Her eight-year-old daughter Elkie said people could stop buying products containing palm oil and cut down on plastic use to help save the environment.

She said: “It’s something I just feel is really, really important.”

Elsewhere, Mary Michel attended the march with her three children Louis, 10, Hector, five and Matilda, eight.

She said it was inspiring to see so many young people enthusiastically taking to the streets, and argued many were able to grasp the issues at stake quicker than adults.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon declared a “climate emergency” at the SNP’s conference last month, insisting she had been inspired by demonstrating pupils.

She said: "I met some of the young climate change campaigners who've gone on strike from school to raise awareness of their cause.

"They want governments around the world to declare a climate emergency. They say that's what the science tells us. And they are right.

"So today, as First Minister of Scotland, I am declaring that there is a climate emergency. And Scotland will live up to our responsibility to tackle it."

Scottish ministers later agreed to set a target of net-zero emissions by 2045 – an aim described by experts as the "most ambitious in the world".

It followed recommendations set out by the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) that Scotland meet the target five years ahead of the UK in 2050.

Meanwhile, Glasgow and Edinburgh have also both outlined their aims to cut greenhouse emissions and to become the UK's first "net zero" city.

The latest climate protests were kick-started in August last year by Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thunberg and have since been mirrored across the world.

But in Edinburgh, it wasn’t just youngsters taking part.

David Catt, 81, said he was attending because his grandchildren are now old enough to consider starting families of their own.

He said: “I have been concerned about environmental issues for at least 30 years, and things have got worse and worse and the particular worries we have got have changed over the years.

“Partly because we have got much more emissions of carbon dioxide, and also in part because we know a lot more, and partly because some of the solutions we have had in the past have been half-baked.”

He added: “It’s great that they have declared a climate emergency, but that’s only the beginning. They need a plan.”

His friend Kate Foster, 58, travelled up from the Borders and said the passion of the young had made a difference.

She added: “I will support them in every way that I can.”

Protests were held in towns and cities across the country including Aberdeen, Fort William, Skelmorlie, Aboyne, Peebles, Nairn, Stirling and Ullapool.

In Glasgow, campaigners marched from the People's Palace to George Square.

Ahead of the demonstrations, 13-year-old Holly Gillibrand, from Fort William, who previously hit the headlines through her regular school strikes, said: "I am too young to vote and we can't wait for people my age to come into power.

"That's why we need to strike to make our voices heard."