BERLIN – Youth groups are moving a long-planned global climate protest online Friday to skirt restrictions on public assemblies during the coronavirus pandemic, though some symbolic stunts will take place offline too.

The student group Fridays for Future, whose Greta Thunberg -inspired street protests have in the past drawn huge crowds worldwide, says it will use online streaming and videos on social media to demand more action from leaders to curb global warming.

Thunberg said Wednesday during an online event for Earth Day that the climate crisis “may not be as immediate as the corona crisis but we need to tackle this now otherwise it will be irreversible.”

Some groups have found creative ways to stage very limited demonstrations despite the lockdown. In Berlin, activists have collected thousands of banners and protest placards that will be placed at key sites around the German capital’s government district Friday.

Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets for the last global climate protest in November.

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