In protests, Australians call for Prime Minister's resignation

Outraged as Australia's worst forest fires , about 30,000 people took to the streets on Friday to call for the resignation of Conservative Prime Minister Scott Morrison, accused of being slow to respond to the current environmental crisis. Begun in September, the fires killed 28 people until Friday and devastated the country's 100,000 square kilometers of forest, endangering rural and urban populations and the country's biodiversity.

Gathered in the country's main cities - Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth - the protesters attended calls from activist groups, including Australian Climate Students and the British Extinction Rebellion.

"We are protesting that these fires are unprecedented, have been burning since September, and we need urgent action against this and the climate crisis," said Anneke De Manuel, one of the protest organizers.

In addition to Morrison's resignation, protesters urge the government to stop mining for coal and other fossil fuels and to invest more in replacing this industry with renewable energy technologies.

Coal is Australia's main export, the third largest supplier of ore worldwide. Because of the domestic use of this energy source, the country is among the largest polluters on the planet and responsible for 1.3% of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere.

Morrison is an avid supporter of the coal industry. As Finance Minister in the previous government, he even brought to Parliament a piece of coal to defend the sector as one of the largest sources of jobs in the country. Elected prime minister in May 2019, his conservative government approved the construction of a controversial coal mine in the state of Queensland, his main electoral corral.

The prime minister is among those who do not believe in global warming. It defends its environmental policy by saying that forest fires, climate change and the coal industry have no direct relationship. But throughout the twentieth century, average temperatures in Australia have risen by about 1 ° Celsius, according to the government's Office of Meteorology, while the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an organization that brings together scientists from around the world, says it is It is extremely likely that the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere was responsible for the rise in the country's temperature.

He also says the country has been reducing its carbon emissions over the years. But according to data from the International Energy Agency (IEA), Australia increased its greenhouse gas emissions by 1.8% from 2013 to 2018, to 383 million tonnes.

The prime minister's public relations doesn't help him either. On December 15, Australians woke up to the news that Morrison was on vacation in Hawaii. He anticipated his return on the 19th, when two firefighters died fighting the flames.