Pierre Boutier

TOKYO: About 50 demonstrators, including children, gathered in front of the Japanese Diet (parliament) on Thursday after submitting a petition calling for climate action to the House of Representatives a day before the G7 summit, which will take place from June 11 to 13 in the United Kingdom.

The Friday for Future movement and the non-governmental association Atofornen have taken joint action across Japan with more than 100 rallies calling for an end to CO₂-emitting coal plants and nuclear power plants.

In front of the Diet, mothers carried signs that read, “Our house is on fire” and other participants carried signs saying, “No more empty summits”.

Protesters in Tokyo have submitted a petition with more than 27,000 signatures calling on Prime Minister Suga, the finance minister and Minister of the Environment KOIZUMI Shinjiro to make concrete commitments to end CO₂ emissions by 2030 and implement a transition to renewable energies as per the Paris agreements within the framework of COP21.

A 17-year-old protester told Arab News Japan that he was committed to the environment and that for him, as for many young people of his generation, “If we does nothing now and if we do not commit to the climate now, it will be too late.”