Climate activists from the colective Greve Climática Estudantil ("Students' Climate Strike") climbed the Bank of Portugal building this Wednesday morning and displayed a banner that read: "Government defending fossil profit = student resistance".
"The students have been arrested and are at the Martim Moniz police station" in Lisbon, according to the movement in a message posted on the social network Telegram.
The collective said that the aim of this action is to alert people to the need to stop using fossil fuels by 2030 as well as to stop using "fossil gas to produce electricity" by 2025.
They also demand "free, 100% renewable electricity through a public renewable energy service".
"The government that will be formed in the next few days doesn't have a plan for ending fossil fuels within the timescales of science. The end of fossils by 2030 is non-negotiable, it's an existential necessity. And we know it's possible. We could have 100% renewable and free electricity by next year. The obstacles are not technical or scientific. The only obstacle is the political decision to put the profits of fossil companies above our lives," says Leonor Chicó, from the Student Climate Strike, quoted in a statement.
Matilde Ventura, another spokesperson for the activist group, says that the Student Climate Strike "is on the right side of history" and will not "give peace to the government until it guarantees the future".
The action comes in the wake of another protest on Sunday night, the night of the elections, when Climáximo activists threw red paint at the windows of the hotel where the AD's leadership was gathered.
Read an earlier post by PORTUGAL DECODED about the climate protests here.
Watch a video of the protest on election night below:
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