Over 30,000 students march for climate action in Brussels

Over 32,000 student protesters took part in the third "Youth for Climate" march in Brussels on Thursday, Belgian media reported.

About 500 young people also demonstrated in Antwerp, a city in the Flemish region of Belgium, calling for the government to adopt more ambitious policy measures against global warming.

The demonstrations, five times larger than a week before, included university students who came to support high school pupils and others.

As in Brussels, Liege or Namur, they demonstrated because they want the country to commit to making the necessary efforts to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, said one of the organizers Warre Germis.

Slogans like "Make Belgium great again", "We want climate justice" or "Cool kids against global warming" featured prominently on placards across the city.

For the protesters, the fight against climate change must be placed "at the heart of political priorities in the next legislature", and allow Belgium to "play a leading role in the field on the international scene", reported the Belgian newspaper La Libre.

Earlier this month, organizers announced plans to hold demonstrations every Thursday. Many students subsequently promised to skip classes and join the protesters.

The teenagers' call for a "school strike" is inspired by the action of Greta Thunberg, a young Swedish climate activist who became famous for her weekly student strikes in front of the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm.

Despite the large crowds, "no problems were reported," said a spokesman for the Brussels Capital-Ixelles police zone.