Climate activists set fire in the street during a protest on Earth Day

It's not new for activists to take radical action to achieve their goals. On Saturday, thousands of protesters gathered to demand political action in the fight against climate change, and to demand immediate action!

This year, the demonstration began in front of the Sir George Étienne Cartier monument in Mount Royal Park.

Several groups from different backgrounds joined the event, students, coalitions, political groups and trade unions were present at the event. 

In these groups were representatives of the NDP Québec, two spokesmen of Québec Solidaire and its supporters, Fight for Socialism, the Pink Blocks, the anarchists, the Marxists, Équiterre, and more.

Some campaigned against the consumption of animal products, against pipelines, against automobiles, against capitalism and so on.

The demonstration began with musical performances, speeches, and then people started walking in the streets of Montreal.

I asked people what their main concern was about climate change, and "The end of humanity" was mentioned a few times.

One protester said:

It is often said that people who fight for the climate are utopian. On the contrary, we are on the side of scientific reality and ultimately the real issues that we have to face.

During this demonstration, we observed several new flags nicknamed according to the movement that fights against patriarchy and the categorization of genders such as "The Pink Bloc."

One of these members explained to me that "LGBTQ+ have always been anti-fascists as fascism targets us in the first place. As a social movement, we have no choice but to be an anti-fascist movement because the fascists are targeting us."

The demonstration ended abruptly when climate activists set a fire in the middle of the street.

Wooden pallets and branches were ignited with gasoline while masked people sang: "Everyone hates the police!"

A fire that was finally extinguished by the Montreal tactical police and firefighters.