Climate strikes, environmental protests in March 2020

By Burak Bir

ANKARA (AA) - In March, people across the world continued to stage strikes, demonstrations, and protests calling for action against climate change and damage to the environment.

Activists and concerned citizens alike held events online mostly from the second half of the month onwards due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.

They included an open letter signed by more than 30 strikers across Europe to European Union leaders, online climate strikes and meetings, and Fridays for Future Uganda's celebration of the first anniversary of the country’s climate strikes.

March 3:

- 34 climate strikers from all across Europe, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, write an open letter to EU leaders ahead of the presentation of the proposed European Climate Law.

March 4:

- Two Extinction Rebellion activists who attached themselves to a moving oil rig to protest fossil fuels are evacuated.

March 5:

- Eight-year-old Indian activist Licypriya Kangujam announces that she will travel from India to the U.K. by electric car in September to raise awareness to stop using fossil fuels, driving 18,000 kilometers and crossing 18 countries in 90 days ahead of COP26 in Glasgow.

March 6:

- Led by Child Movement, thousands of children in India leave their classes for climate protest and demand that the government enacts a climate change law “as soon as possible.”

- 13-year old Turkish activist Yagmur Ocak and a group of strikers hold climate protest in Istanbul.

- Accompanied by a small group of protesters, Russian activist Arshak Makichyan marks the 52nd week of his climate strike in Moscow.

- Some 8,000 people in the French capital Paris gather to make climate protests part of weekly climate strikes.

March 7:

- Young climate activist Jerome Foster and two other activists read full Green New Deal aloud in front of the White House in the U.S.

March 9:

- A large number of people, including women and children, in Manipur, India hold a rally to raise awareness on protecting the environment.

- Dozens of people in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh stage climate protest to show their solidarity with the planet.

March 10:

- Fridays For Future Uganda activists celebrate the first anniversary of the beginning of the climate strikes in the country with tree planting event.

March 13:

- Climate strikers and environmental organizations around the world move protests from the streets online due to coronavirus outbreak.

- Saying that “the climate emergency is the biggest crisis we have ever faced, it won’t wait until after COVID-19 is dealt with -- so we can’t either," Fridays for Future urges activists to join a demonstration online by posting pictures using the #ClimateStrikeOnline hashtag.

March 19:

- More than 2,000 people send an open letter to the U.K.’s Ceredigion County Council calling for Borth Wild Animal Kingdom to be closed down.

March 20:

- Vietnamese activist Amelia Swaft starts her first climate strike week online over coronavirus fears.

- Turkish climate activist Deniz Cevikus marks the 52nd week of climate strike on her home balcony.

March 24:

- Fridays for Future launches a weekly Talks for Future initiative, bringing the movement from the streets to the internet due to the global coronavirus pandemic.

March 27:

- Journalist and activist Naomi Klein and the WHO’s climate change and health leader Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum are the guests of the first meeting of Talks for Future webinar series where climate change and infectious diseases like COVID-19 are discussed.

- Over 100 climate activists around the world hold an online meeting as movements cancel all mass gatherings following coronavirus warnings.

- After canceling mass gatherings including Fridays for Future strikes, Greta Thunberg shares a photo of herself on Twitter holding her famous “School strike for climate” sign.

- Fridays for Future activists in Sierra Leone continue climate protests as they also join the digital strike in the country.
March 28:

- People around the world celebrate Earth Hour -- an event that has been engaging people and creating awareness about the earth and environment -- in their homes due to the COVID-19 pandemic to show support for the planet.

- Celebrating Earth Hour and sharing her photo on Twitter while planting seedlings, Kenyan climate activist Elizabeth Wathuti promises to plant 3,000 trees after the COVID-19 outbreak disappears.