30,000 students skip school for climate protest in Belgium

For a fourth week in a row, tens of thousands of children have skipped school in Belgium to join protests, urging the government to take tougher action against climate change.

More than 30,000 protesters turned out in three Belgian cities for the fourth "Youth for Climate" march organized by students. Ahead of the marches, dozens of children protested outside the home of Belgium's environment minister.

In Brussels, around 12,500 children and high school students, joined this time by university students and pensioners, marched through the city centre from north to south, holding placards and chanting slogans.

Asked why she was protesting, Isidore Vlassenroot, 12, at school in Ghent said: "I am marching because I believe we should make our voice heard as young people. It is very special to be part of such a huge crowd. We all have the same goal: a better planet".

New impetus came in an open letter from 3,450 Belgian scientists, saying "the activists are absolutely right". In the letter, the Belgian scientists said they wanted to provide facts, accusing opponents of disrupting the debate.

Youth demonstrations have also taken place in Germany and Switzerland where students have been mobilising on Fridays under the hashtag #FridaysForFuture.

The school strikes were the brainchild of 16-year-old climate-change protester Greta Thunberg, who attracted widespread coverage for an appearance at the World Economic Forum at Davos in Switzerland last week.