'Fridays for Future' activists in Bern demand climate strike ahead of COP26

Protestors take part in the Global Climate Strike of the movement Fridays for Future in front of the Bundeshaus, the seat of the Swiss federal parliament at the Bundesplatz square in Bern, Switzerland October 22, 2021. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

BERN (Reuters) - Banner-waving climate activists rallied outside the Swiss parliament on Friday in support of a Global Climate Strike that youth movement Fridays for Future had called for ahead of the UN climate summit COP26.

Protesters in Bern included young children and elderly people with banners reading "climate grandparents" and the words "oil, gas, coal" crossed out.

Swiss media said 1,000-2,000 people took part in the protests. Similar gatherings took place in other cities including Basel and Biel.

Fridays for Future had called for a global climate strike ahead of the Oct. 31-Nov. 12 COP26 conference in Glasgow to draw world leaders' attention to the need "to cut emissions drastically by divesting from fossil fuels", the movement said on its website.

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who started Fridays for Future three years ago, told Reuters in an interview this month the conference would succeed only if world leaders admitted their actions were not living up to their words.

(Reporting by Arnd Wiegmann and Silke Koltrowitz; Editing by Nick Macfie)