Following the climate protests in The Hague, a climate demonstration is to be held in Nijmegen on Thursday too. The organisers are Olaf Kemerink and Stijn van Uffelen, students at Radboud University. ‘With the national protests we noticed that students still often stayed at home. But we’re just as involved.’

Olaf Kemerink, Law student, and Stijn van Uffelen, Philosophy and Physics student, came up with the idea of the climate demonstration this past weekend. They were inspired by the national protests organised by secondary school students and thought that students needed to get involved too. ‘With the national protests we noticed that students still often stayed at home. But we’re just as involved.’ They chose Nijmegen as the location for the demonstration. ‘The Hague isn’t convenient for everyone and travelling there by bus each time isn’t good for the environment,’ says Kemerink. ‘So we thought: why shouldn’t we do this in Nijmegen as well.’

Important issue

So they set up a WhatsApp group together with secondary school students from Nijmegen. Via the WhatsApp group, Instagram, posters and personal appeals to fellow students, they are trying to mobilise as many people as possible to turn out on Thursday. A climate protest for the following Thursday is also planned. ‘We are seeing that this issue is particularly motivating. People are starting to understand that it’s urgent,’ says Kemerink. ‘For example, if you ask students for their opinion on tenancy law, the first question you get is ‘What’s it about?’’, adds Van Uffelen. ‘With the climate everyone knows what the problem is.’

‘In any case, the government won’t save the climate’

Kemerink expects that it will be mainly the committed students who will turn out, but hopes that more and more people will join in. ‘People will have to get used to it. It started small like this in Belgium too and a minister has resigned there now.’

Continue to demonstrate

This is what Van Uffelen and Kemerink are hoping for: that the protests grow into something that all kinds of groups in society will commit to, also with their own initiatives. ‘In any case, the government won’t save the climate, it’s not ambitious enough for that,’ says Van Uffelen. ‘Everything needs to happen more quickly. We support the talk that Rutte is to have soon with the secondary school students, but it isn’t the solution. We must continue to put the pressure on. We can do this by continuing to demonstrate.’

But the reactions to the planned action in news items by RTL Nieuws and De Gelderlander are not always favourable. ‘We’re trying to pay as little attention to these as possible,’ says Kemerink. ‘People often think it’s hypocritical that as students we continue to eat meat. They’re saying things like ‘They should become vegan first and spend less time in the shower’. But the problem lies mainly with the big companies that continue to pollute, while the government and municipality fail to take action against them.’

The demonstration will start on Thursday at 10.30 am. Depending on the turnout on the day, the group will walk from the Central Station and follow a route through the centre. During the march a number of speakers will talk about sustainability and how society can change.