Youth climate protesters are occupying their schools across Europe

The Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain, was upended by student teach-ins on the climate, 40 people took the University of Ghent in Belgium, and 100 Czech Republic students camped outside its ministry of trade and industry. In the UK, universities across Leeds, Exeter, and Falmouth had their lecture halls occupied by protesters. 

Of the most radical actions recorded thus far, Portuguese students disrupted seven schools and two universities. Yesterday (May 4), one high school was forced to close for a third consecutive day due to students reportedly barricading themselves in the dean’s office. 

At a school in Lisbon, teachers called police to physically evict protesters who mobilised last week. Around the capital, meanwhile, several street blockades sprung up in solidarity with the movement.

🚨 BREAKING: Three universities are occupied in Lisbon.

✊ Students are demanding the government end fossil fuels by 2030 and accessible renewable electricity for all families by 2025.

🌏 This is the beginning of a global May wave of student occupations. Young people refuse… pic.twitter.com/FWgtTo1ky8

— End Fossil International (@endfossil) April 26, 2023

Some 50 schools and universities were occupied by students between September and December last year, and there’s hope that this previous total will be dwarfed in the coming months. 

End Fossil: Occupy organisers ultimately hope that this drastic action will recreate the radicalism of May 1968, when student-led anti-imperialist protests were joined by striking workers across Europe. 

‘We start as students occupying schools and universities, but we need all of society to take radical action with us to end fossil [fuels],’ the campaign said. 

Whether or not you agree with the new wave of student revolt, you can’t really question their motivation. Much of today’s youth is willing to give up its own education to secure a more prosperous future for all – and that is a powerful message.