Amazon fires: French activists urge more Brazil action

PARIS – Pretending to be trees in the Amazon, activists marched through Paris urging Brazil’s president to do more to fight fires in the Amazon rainforest.

Some 200 demonstrators walked Saturday toward Paris City Hall, shooting white flares to represent smoke from the fires. One by one, they collapsed onto the sidewalk, representing trees felled by the blaze.

Passersby and diners in nearby cafes looked on, some in puzzlement, some offering support.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and French President Emmanuel Macron have clashed repeatedly over the fires.

Macron calls them an international climate emergency and helped rally tens of millions of dollars in aid for the region. Bolsonaro said the French leader is being colonialist, and said this week he won’t use Bic pens anymore because they’re made by a French company.