ATHENS – A rally to call for more action for the climate crisis was held in Athens on Friday, as part of the Fridays for Future movement.

Under the motto "Make love, not CO2," young people gathered at Syntagma Square to march to Monastiraki Square, calling out "We are the generation of change." Prior to starting off, they had held a minute-long silence in memory of renowned Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis.

The rally is one of many held around the world ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) taking place in Glasgow from October 31 to November 12. Participants in Athens included representatives of WWF and Greenpeace among other environmental organizations.

Organizers Youth Initiative and Fridays for Future Greece said that this year "Greece experienced an unprecedented heatwave, both in duration and in intensity, with temperatures breaking 50-year records," they said, recalling fires, drought and floods. "It's our obligation to take action, become aware and talk about climate change – let's make a start together."

Fridays For Future is a youth-led and -organised movement that began in August 2018, after 15-year-old Greta Thunberg and other young activists sat in front of the Swedish parliament every schoolday for three weeks, to protest against the lack of action on the climate crisis.