Thousands of children skipped school and descended on Parliament to protest against ‘climate change’ and the Government.
Pupils from across the country met in the capital to “take a stand against emissions” as the crowds chanted “Oh Jeremy Corbyn” and there was a return of “fuck Theresa May”.
But not everyone saw it that way – with some claiming they “just wanted the day off school” – labelling the protest as “bullshit.”
The protesters marched from Parliament Square to Downing Street holding hundreds of placards as traffic was brought to a standstill.
One motorist said: “They ought to be in school, these are the kind that won’t even want to work like the rest of us.”
About thirty protesters sat down in the road while mounted police watched from the edge of the crowd and a helicopter whirled overhead.
Zara Sajovic, 17, from Elephant and Castle, south London, said: “It’s a very good that kids are here – this is for their future.
“It’s much better for the kids to be here, but others wanted to protest things like Brexit and didn’t come.”
Logan Wijay, a foreign affairs adviser, took the day off work to join his daughter to protest.
He said: “We have to sort out this mess, I’m glad to be here with my daughter.
“She is the only one from her school, Francis Holland, Sloane Square.”
Catherine Barley, 44, was protesting outside Number Ten with her two sons.
She said: “I don’t think that anything else is working.
“The kids being off school works. There’s no excuse.”
Her son, Maxwell Barley, ten, a student at Corpus Christi, Brixton, said: “We shouldn’t have to deal with this in the first place.”
But one student held a sign reading “we’re only here for a day off skl”
His friends added: “We think that climate change is bullshit – there’s too many feminazis here, too.”
The teenagers said they had travelled to the capital from Brighton for “a fun day out.”
Kids gathered and chanted outside Westminster Station, carrying signs reading “the climate is changing, why won’t we” and “eco not ego”.
While a student with a microphone let out cries of “Fuck Teresa May” – with a dozen others joining him as he singled out the PM.
School governor Rachel Wrangham, 44, said: “I’m here to join the protest against the appalling fact of climate change on all our lives.
“I’m joined here by my three children, Alexander, 11, Robin, six and Catherine, nine.
“They are missing school, they have been given permission for off-site education.
“The best way of bringing about change would be if our politicians did what they were ought to do and led.
“But given that they wont do it that, ordinary people won’t dont have many options, so this a good one.
Her son Robert, six, said: “I’m here to stop climate change. I care about the world, I like turtles, fish and sharks.
“It’s nice having a day off school, it’s very hot.”
While her other child, Alexander, 11, said: “This is not just about having a day off school.
“This is a way of getting attention, to allow people to at least say something.
“We want to make our point that this destroying our world. We are helpless.”
The kids went to Kentish Town Church of England primary school and Acton Burleigh secondary school.
By Daniel Hammond