Tens of thousands of environmental activists marched this Saturday through Glasgow, the capital of Scotland, where the UN climate summit is taking place, to express their frustration at what they consider a lack of immediate action to stop global warming.
The protesters, who
echoed activist Greta Thunberg's claim that leaders only argue and argue without making real decisions
, took to the streets despite the rain, according to the Associated Press (AP) news agency.
On Friday, Thunberg again said that
the dialogues between leaders are reduced to pure "blah, blah, blah
.
"
Activists during Saturday's march in Glasgow.Alberto Pezzali / AP
Those who gathered to protest in Glasgow carried signs with messages such as "Code red for humanity", "Stop the big polluters", "
COP26, we are watching you
" or simply "I am angry".
They also condemned world leaders saying that, so far, talks on climate change have not generated the necessary swift action.
There were also demonstrations in other European cities such as London, Paris, Dublin, Copenhagen, Zurich and Istanbul.
Lack of participation from real people
"We are having these talks, but there are no policies to support them," said Daze Aghaji, a London protester in Glasgow.
"And also, real people should be in the room," he added, in line with complaints that the summit has limited public participation too much.
"
How do we hope to do decent politics when the people who are the stakeholders in this are not even present in the room?
" Aghaji claimed.
Megan McClellan, 24, lives in Glasgow, and said she doubted climate negotiators were listening.
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"It's very easy for them to ignore this," he said.
"They are fine and comfortable" inside the summit conference center, which is surrounded by steel fences.
Inside the UN headquarters, negotiators from almost 200 countries dedicated the seventh consecutive day of the summit to finalizing draft agreements to send them to government authorities for possible approval next week, according to the aforementioned agency.
Among the issues being assessed are a new commitment to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius
(2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), get countries to review their efforts more frequently to increase pressure for further cuts, and provide more financial support to poor nations to adapt to climate change.
Summit President Alok Sharma said he understood the protesters' frustration.
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"I think that in general we have advanced," he said this Saturday.
"I think people have been constructive in the negotiating rooms."
[Biden arrives at COP26 with his credibility at stake given the inability to pass a law against the climate emergency]
"But we are getting to the point ... where
we are going to have to make difficult decisions
," he said, referring to government officials.
"Of course I do not underestimate the difficulty of the task that we have before us," he concluded.