UK students protest lack of action on climate change

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Students join the Youth Strike 4 Climate movement during a climate change protest near Parliament in London, Friday Feb. 15, 2019. The demonstration is one many nationwide to demand action against climate change. (Nick Ansell/PA via AP)

Chanting "Save our Planet!" thousands of students around Britain are rallying to demand that Britain's Conservative government take action on climate change.

The demonstrators, many in their school uniforms, skipped class and are refusing to take exams, hoping to gain the attention of political leaders. The group, Youth Strike 4 Climate Change, says students in some 60 communities are taking part in the U.K.

Similar demonstrations involving hundreds, and in some cases thousands, of student protesters, also took place outside the Swiss Parliament in Bern, the Bundestag in Berlin and other cities across Europe. Climate strikes also took place in Australia last year.

Roseanne Steffen, 21, says "we need to react urgently."

British Prime Minister Theresa May's office says while it's important to engage, the disruption to lessons is damaging.