Climate change protest draws thousands of students into the city

Students are gathering at the Old Treasury Building at midday on Friday, where speeches will outline the reasons behind the strike action.

Based on social media engagement, the Australian Youth Climate Coalition is expecting about 15,000 to 20,000 students to attend in Melbourne.

The crowd started marching at 1.15pm, heading west along Collins Street, up Russell Street, right on Bourke Street and then south on Spring Street before ending at Treasury Gardens.

Isabella Morgan, a year 9 student from the Academy of Mary Immaculate in Fitzroy, said she was skipping school to protest the government’s inaction on climate change. She’s clutching a large handmade sign that reads: ‘will you explain to my children what polar bears were?’

Her Catholic school was happy for students to attend the event, as they long as they received signed permission from their parents.

“The earth is melting, it’s heating up, the deserts are becoming hotter,” she said. “So many people are affected.”

Yarra Trams is expecting trams on Bourke, Swanston and Collins streets to be affected, as well as Grand Prix services.

Mimi Vale travelled for three hours by train to get to the rally.

The 10-year-old lives on a drought-ravaged farm in the small town of Toora, Gippsland, and has witnessed the impacts of climate change first- hand. There’s no grass for her family’s cattle to feed on, so the Foster Primary School student has to handfeed them. She was born two weeks before Black Saturday and has lived through numerous bushfires.

“If we don’t act fast, the world is going to end,” she says.

She spent hours making a placard for the rally. ‘It’s all a theory but so is gravity,’ it reads.

Julian De Marco, a year 10 student at Balwyn High School, said students had to take a stand against climate change because the government wasn’t.

“Our government is more interested about staying in power than doing something about climate change,” he said.

“We have the solutions, we need to start investing in renewable energy.”

Students stretch for as far as the eye can see, with event organisers estimating that 20,000 people have flocked to Melbourne’s CBD. The intersection of Collins and Springs streets is closed to traffic.

State, Catholic and private school students have broken into a series of chants and many are clutching handmade placards.

“Students united, we’ll never be divided,” they shout.

“Hey ho, hey ho, fossil fuels they have to go.”

Some students have defied their teacher’s orders by attending the rally.

Hazera, a year 9 student from Pascoe Vale Girls College, said one of her teachers told her attending the rally would achieve nothing.

“We are the future generation that has to live in this world,” she said.

“We came here on our own will.”

She’s calling for an end to coal-fired power stations and more renewable energy. The teenager is carrying a placard that reads: ‘climate change will kill me before school does’.

Commuters are being encouraged to use the City Loop trains instead.

"Yarra Trams will respond to any disruptions, including diverting services along different streets through the city if needed," a Public Transport Victoria spokesman said.

Police are also in attendance.

Elsewhere in Victoria, coordinated marches will take place in Kyneton, Ballarat, Geelong and Bendigo.

The protest is part of the global School Strike 4 Climate campaign which was inspired by 16-year-old Swedish student Greta Thunberg protesting outside the Swedish parliament in 2018.

She has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for her activism.

Swanston Street

- Route 1 and 6 trams will divert via Kings Way, Queens Bridge St, William St, and La Trobe St between Stop 22 Toorak Rd and Stop 7 RMIT University along Route 58 and 30

- Route 5, 16 and 72 trams will operate between the south-eastern suburbs and Stop 11 Collins St

- Route 3, 64 and 67 trams will operate between the south-eastern suburbs and Stop 14 Arts Precinct

Collins St:

- Route 11 trams will divert via La Trobe St to Stop D1 Etihad Stadium along Route 30

- Route 12 and 109 trams will divert via La Trobe St between Stop 12 St Vincent’s Plaza and Stop 124 Batman Park along Route 30 and 96

- Route 48 trams will divert via Flinders St and Harbour Esplanade to Stop D3 Marvel Stadium, Bourke St

- Shuttle trams will run between Victoria Harbour Docklands and Stop 5 Elizabeth St

Bourke St:

- Route 86 and 96 trams will divert via La Trobe St between Stop 11 Melbourne Museum and Stop 124 Batman Park along Route 30 and 96. Shuttle trams will operate in Bourke St between Stop 4 Queen St and Waterfront City Docklands.

City Circle:

- City Circle trams will not run between 11.30am and 2.30pm