Police said that 65,000 people marched through Brussels, Belgium, on December 2, demanding action on climate change. The march was to mark the start of the 24th United Nations Climate Change Convention in Poland. The conference was to have a special focus on carbon neutrality. Credit: Phil Meert via Storyful </s> Police said that 65,000 people marched through Brussels, Belgium, on December 2, demanding action on climate change. The march was to mark the start of the 24th United Nations Climate Change Convention in Poland. The conference was to have a special focus on carbon neutrality. Credit: En finir avec les poignées d’amour via Storyful </s> Tens of thousands of demonstrators have marched in Brussels on Sunday under the banner "Claim the Climate" to urge the Belgian government to honor its commitments to combat climate change prior to world leaders meeting in Poland to discuss the future of the 2015 Paris climate accord.

The march took place in the aftermath of violent clashes in Paris where the so-called yellow vest protest against a rise in fuel prices left a toll of more than 100 people injured and over 400 under arrest. </s> Tens of thousands of marchers took to the streets of Brussels on Sunday to mark the start of the UN climate summit in Poland.

Organisers said the event was the biggest climate march ever in Belgium, with 65,000 protesters braving steady drizzle, according to police.

The well-mannered crowd was filled with activists and many families, with children holding placards asking politicians to fight harder to assure a greener future.

Speaking through a blow-horn, activist Evert Nicolai of Oxfam Action urged leaders to do what was needed towards fighting climate change.

"Politicians where are you? You have to be with us, the people. There is no planet B," Nicolai said.

The march, dubbed Claim The Climate, ended with speeches and performances at the Parc Cinquantenaire that overlooks the European Union institutions.

Public transport throughout the city was free on Sunday for the occasion and the SNCB national train service offered a cut-rate ticket of five euros.

Trains from other Belgian cities were packed with protesters, with many complaints on social media that the SNCB had not adequately anticipated the surge in travellers.

The protest was timed for the launch of the COP24, the UN climate summit where officials from 200 nations will aim to boost efforts to avert runaway climate change. </s> Around 65,000 people braved rain and wind to take part in the "Claim the Climate" demonstration through central Brussels on Sunday, Belgian police said.

The climate rally, which organizers called the biggest in Belgium's history, followed similar weekend marches in Berlin and Cologne.

Holding banners with slogans including "There is no planet B" and "Climate First, Politics Second," the protesters urged delegates meeting at the COP24 climate conference in Katowice, Poland, to set more ambitious targets to limit carbon emissions.

Read more: Opinion: The brave optimism at COP24

Negotiators from nearly 200 countries are attending the two-week long United Nations summit, which aims to flesh out a rule book for implementing the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

The pact set the goal of limiting global warming to a maximum of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. Scientists say sticking to that target will involve a dramatic shift away from fossil fuels such as coal. The burning of coal, oil and natural gas emits a large share of greenhouse gases causing climate change.

Read more: Crunch time for the climate at the COP24 global warming conference

Not far from the COP24 venue in Katowice, Polish anti-coal campaigners held their own, smaller protest on Sunday.

Meanwhile, in neighboring Slovakia, a court ordered 12 Greenpeace activists to be held in pre-trial detention after they displayed protest banners on a tower at a coal mine in the western town of Novaky.

The protesters, who are from Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Finland and Belgium, could face prison terms of up to five years if convicted, Greenpeace said.

Read more: Africans expect real action on climate change at COP24

Every evening, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here. </s> (ANSA) - Rome, March 15 - Tens of thousands of people took to the streets across Italy on Friday to protest against the lack of government action against climate change as part of an international 'climate strike'.

In Milan, placards raised high by students had 'Friday for Future' and 'No time left' written in English on them.

One of the large banners in Italian called on governments to "act, time is running out. Today we are protesting in 182 squares in Italy to call for one thing only: to have a future". Other students had written "why should we study for a future when there will not be any". Organizers said that, as of mid-morning, some 30,000 people were taking part in the march in Milan alone.

Tens of thousands were doing in the same in other cities.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte wrote on his Facebook page that "climate change is a crucial challenge for the safeguarding the future of our planet. Heads of state and government not only have the moral obligation to listen to the cries of alarm being raised today from every corner of the world, they must also take concrete steps. Apathy would be an unforgivable, historic sin." He added that his government sees climate change as "one of the most important challenges we are facing and that the new European Commission will be called upon to face." Conte said that "we still have a long way to go" but that "the presence of thousands of young people in the streets gives us more stimulus to move forward". </s> Thousands of people across the U.S. marched in rain, snow and sweltering heat Saturday to demand action on climate change - mass protests that coincided with President Donald Trump's 100th day in office and took aim at his agenda for rolling back environmental protections. At the marquee event, the Peoples Climate March in Washington, D.C., tens of thousands of demonstrators made their way down Pennsylvania Avenue on their way to encircle the White House as temperatures soared into the 90s.

Start the conversation, or Read more at KATC-TV Lafayette. </s> - Thousands of students around the world plan to skip school Friday to demand action on climate change.

A teenager in Sweden started the event and it's now spread to students in more than 100 countries.

That includes right here in Georgia where two events are planned in downtown Atlanta.

Organizers said the idea is to pressure leaders to take action sooner rather than later. </s> AUSTIN, Texas -- Thousands of people have assembled in Texas on President Donald Trump's hundredth day in office to demand federal action on climate change.

 

 The Texas Department of Public Safety told the Austin American-Statesman that about 3,500 people participated in a rally Saturday in Austin.

 

 People marched from the Capitol to the University of Texas and Democratic U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett was among the speakers who addressed the crowd.

 

 Many held signs with slogans like "Climate change is not fake science."

 

 Hundreds more gathered in Houston where Mayor Sylvester Turner told participants that climate change is "very much real."

 

 National organizers said about 300 marches were planned for around the country, with people objecting to issues like Trump's rollback of restrictions on mining and greenhouse gas emissions at coal-fired power plants.
At least 65,000 people gather in Brussels, Belgium, in a march for more action on protecting the climate.