Climate change strike: School children across New Zealand take second day of action
Students across the country are planning another strike in the name of climate change awareness. On May 24, participating primary, secondary and tertiary pupils will walk off school grounds to participate in protests, rallies or tree plantings to mark the occasion. The first strike of its nature happened across New Zealand on March 15 - the day of the mosque shootings in Christchurch . That day, tens of thousands of school pupils took part in about 40 climate demonstrations from Southland to the Bay of Islands. READ MORE: * UK students protest lack of action on climate change * Students who strike for climate change will be marked as truants, principals say * Climate change strike: This is why Kiwi kids are 'bunking' school They joined students in more than 90 countries in a global campaign for action on climate change. Key events happened at Dunedin's George St, Christchurch's Cathedral Square, Wellington's Civic Square and Auckland's Aotea Square. Organisers, School Strike 4 Climate NZ (SS4C), said May's strike action would look slightly different to before. "This will look different in different towns and cities across Aotearoa as they work out what's going to be best for them. "Some may do tree plantings, others may do a strike in their town square, others a rally, a sit-in outside MPs offices or a community hui." SS4C national coordinator Sophie Handford said: "We're striking again because we feel as though we need to do to more secure a safe climate future. "We need to hold the government to account and ensure that we are always asking for what's necessary to safeguard the planet." She said the impact of the first strike was definitely somewhat overshadowed by the terrorist attack. "Rightly so, the attention that day went to what happened to Christchurch, so we stood back in respect for our strikers in that part of the country. We didn't have the emotional capacity to process what had happened on that day. "Now we feel the time is right to build up some momentum again. The point of terrorism is to divide communities, so we're trying to make this movement as inclusive as possible to try overcome that division and act as a community." A Facebook post announcing the second strike said more details would become available soon. The initial strike was not well received by school management, with some school principals threatening participating students with truancy.