Ahead of the presidential election in France next month, thousands of people have held a protest to demand more attention to the climate crisis.
While organisers of the protest said that at least 80,000 protesters took part across the country, including 32,000 people in Paris, the countryโs interior ministry said just about 40,000 demonstrated, of whom 11,000 were in the capital.
In the northern city of Lille, one of the protesters, Lydie Lampin Bernand described the climate crisis as โworse than criticalโ. โIโm only 34 years old, and even Iโve seen the planet slapped in the face with a shovel,โ she said.
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One of the messages in giant orange letters demonstrators held up in Paris, urging politicians to make protecting the planet a priority, said โLook up,โ. Another sign read, โWhen are we going to talk about it?โ.
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The sign was a nod to Netflix’s hit Donโt Look Up, in which astronomers who discover a comet will wipe out the Earth try in vain to get politicians to take the threat seriously.
A recent survey by climate justice NGOs had found that the climate crisis took up only 1.5% of talking points in media coverage of the election campaign from 28 February to 6 March.
โWe have to protect the land weโll leave to our children,โ Bernand said. โBut politicians had not so far shown they were up to tackling the challengeโ.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
