Students from across New York City walked out of classes and marched for action on climate change Friday, joining young people across the world as part of the youth climate strikes.
Multiple protests were held across the city, including outside of City Hall, the Bronx High School of Science, Columbus Circle, and elsewhere. The young New Yorkers joined hundreds of thousands of students around the world demonstrating in the spirit of 16-year-old Greta Thunberg’s weekly protests in Sweden.
While public school officials said they encourage activism, students who skipped classes Friday were marked absent. This differs from city policy during walkouts against guns last year, when the education department said students would only receive a notation on their attendance records only if they didn’t return to class afterward the protests.
“We encourage our students to raise their voices on issues that matter to them, and we also expect our students to be in attendance during the school day,” said Education Department spokeswoman Miranda Barbot.
Here are some tweets reflecting the students’ anger and outrage.
The train is packed w Brooklyn kids headed for the climate strike (they posed) so at least there’s that pic.twitter.com/LqLZWnkAAB
— Melissa Gira Grant (@melissagira) March 15, 2019
Students demonstrating outside City Hall today pic.twitter.com/bZw0O6w0lm
— Jillian Jorgensen (@Jill_Jorgensen) March 15, 2019
Hundreds of students from across #NYC New York City skip school to join #YouthClimateStrike #ClimateJustice #GretaThunberg #Friday4Future #SCHOOLSTRIKES4CLIMATE #GND at the #UnitedNations #CityHall and beyond pic.twitter.com/IIFnBpUPST
— Jay Dunn (@JADunnIII) March 15, 2019
#ClimateStrike #nyc pic.twitter.com/8AmQt3qGSU
— I'd Like a Loading Zone on my Block (@BKbreadBlog) March 15, 2019
Students around the world are going on strike today for Climate Change. We'll be live from NYC #ClimateStrike starting at 2pET. pic.twitter.com/2S4zyVj5Gg
— Pattrn (@pattrn) March 15, 2019
At the #npcc2019 here at @NYASciences. Learning about how NYC has responded to climate change over the last 10 years using science, research and policy. Especially important on #FridaysForFuture #ClimateStrike #YouthCimateStrike pic.twitter.com/Dbwo7PUywl
— Diara J.🌍 (@CuriousScout) March 15, 2019
Basically.#ClimateStrike #ClimateChange NYC City Hall pic.twitter.com/bJKFuInfoY
— Caroline Lewis (@clewisreports) March 15, 2019
#WildlifeChampions from Greenpoint, Brooklyn at the #FridaysforFuture rally at City Hall in NYC. RT to show your support for students telling the world to #ActOnClimate! #YouthClimateStrike #FEEglobal #FeeAction4Climate #ClimateStrike #ecoschools25 pic.twitter.com/Dg6y1JdF46
— National Wildlife Federation Action Fund (@wildlifeaction) March 15, 2019
Our children are our future, they’re fighting for theirs right now, and they’re inspiring change. @NYCComptroller standing with NYC students at today’s #ClimateStrike. #ClimateAction pic.twitter.com/kM89KnPCbG
— Tian (@ttweinberg) March 15, 2019
Strike for climate in New York right now in front of the City Hall #FridaysForFuture #nyc #ClimateStrike @climatestrikeUS @StrikeClimate@sunrisemvmt
— Andrea De Micheli, PhD (@AndreaDeMicheli) March 15, 2019
@FFF_USA @Fridays4future @GretaThunberg pic.twitter.com/i5Zkb0nTWc