'We will continue to roar': Teens take to the streets in global climate protest

Colin Campbell
·Editorial Director
Updated ·2 min read

Hundreds of thousands of young people around the world took to the streets Friday for a day of global protest against inaction on climate change.

In Australia alone, an estimated 300,000 protesters marched in massive rallies across the country. Other rallies took place across the United States and Europe, including an estimated 100,000 in Berlin. Rallies occurred in South Africa, Poland and Britain, among other locations.

[See also: Photos of climate change protests around the globe]

New York City schools allowed students to skip classes to attend the climate strike (with parental permission). Yahoo News joined a group of them traveling from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School to the main protest at Manhattan’s Foley Square.

“I want to live until retirement. I want to live until my 90s and 100s and have grandkids and great-grandkids, hopefully. And I want a world for them to live in also,” said Owen Maloney, who attends LaGuardia.

“All you have in this world is your voice. And I feel like if you’re not willing to express that at a school as renowned as ours, you have to get with the protests,” said Bella Tagliareni, also a student at the highly selective arts school.

[See also: How the youth-led Climate Strike is empowering grownups: 'the Greta Thunberg impact']

Margot Guillen, of Harvest Collegiate High School, told Yahoo News she was there to send a message.

“By protesting peacefully, it shows how committed our generation is to making a change and showing that we know what’s happening and we need to stop it,” she said.

“We will not step down,” said Clementine Chafee Elorring, another student at LaGuardia. “We will continue to roar. We will continue to scream. And you’ll hear us.”

Watch their statements and those of other students in the video above.

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