(sda) In Zurich, around 150 people responded to the climate strike organization’s call and gathered on Helvetiaplatz. There were speeches and “system change not climate change” calls before the participants set out for the approved demonstration parade. The posters and banners read, for example, “Expropriate climate killers!”, As an inspection by the Keystone-SDA news agency showed.
On Sunday, the demonstration organizers are planning a “counter-summit” to the international climate conference in Scotland. In Zurich, “eco-socialist alternatives” to solve climate change are to be discussed, as the organizers announced in advance.
In Lausanne, around 500 people demonstrated against the COP26 in Glasgow on Saturday. “We are here to denounce 26 years of COP, 26 years of empty words,” said Steven Tamburini, a member of the Vaudois climate strike, one of the organizers of the demonstration.
Speaking to Keystone-SDA, the activist said he had no illusions that the COP26 had reached halftime. It is all “greenwashing” and “fine words”. He stressed that the decisions taken in Glasgow could even reassure people “if they should panic,” he said.
The approved rally train left the Place de la Gare around 2 p.m. to get to the Place de la Riponne. On the way, the demonstrators organized a sit-in in front of UBS, where they denounced the big banks as the “main culprits” for climate change.
Finally, in Geneva, around 50 activists drew attention to the threat to trees and biodiversity by “occupying” several parks.
“Mr. Hodgers, can you hear us?” They shouted from under the windows of State Councilor Antonio Hodgers’ office, who was being booed by some of them. The canton plans to plant more than 150,000 trees. “But we have to start by not cutting down a single one,” said the President of the Association for the Rescue of Trees in Geneva.
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