DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – A short walk from where she spent the week rubbing shoulders with world leaders, Greta Thunberg showed solidarity with the climate strikers of Davos on the last day of the World Economic Forum (WEF).
Davos high school students with signs reading “wake up WEF” and “stop (f)lying to us” chanted in the hope that they would be loud enough for the business leaders and politicians to listen.
“We want to show the people from WEF who want to make money that even though we’re young, we still care about the issues. We want to show them its not only about making money,” 17-year-old Miriam Alther told Reuters.
At a protest of around 50 people, Miriam said at least 20 were from her school. All had skipped classes for the day.
“We wanted to take action because it’s a real problem,” 17-year-old Anna Stricker said.
A silent Thunberg did not even join in the songs, letting the worldwide movement she began speak for itself.
Alongside the teens were parents with small children and activists who had trekked from all parts of the world to join Thunberg. Vanessa Nakate, a teen activist from Uganda, marched alongside her to the protest following a WEF panel.
“There’s someone from Brazil, someone from China, someone from UK, we have someone from Greenland,” Nakate said.
“We’ve left our comfort zones to show you that it is time for all of you to leave your comfort zones because it’s the uncomfortable things that we do that will be able to save the planet,” Nakate said during the panel.
She has been camping in the cold each night as attendees return to their hotels and apartments.
Editing by Alexander Smith