WORLDWIDE PROTESTD AGAINST GLOBAL WARMING HELD

From Asia to Europe via the Middle East, activists staged lively events addressing world leaders and to mark 50 days before the UN climate summit.

• Kicking off with thousands gathering on the steps of Sydney's iconic Opera House, global warming protests have taken place around the world.
• Many waved placards bearing the logo 350, referring to 350 parts per million (ppm) of CO2 in the atmosphere which scientists say must not be exceeded to avoid runaway global warming.
• France's politicians received a "wake up" call from several hundred Parisians who chose clocks as their symbol.
• Protesters who met in a central square had set their alarm clocks and mobile phones to ring at 12:18 p.m. (1018 GMT) in reference to the closing date of the summit, which lasts from December 7 to 18.
• The summit is considered crucial as world leaders will try to thrash out a new treaty to curb greenhouse gas emissions in place of the Kyoto Protocol which will expire in 2012.
• In Berlin, some 350 protesters wearing masks with the face of German Chancellor Angela Merkel came together in front of the Brandenburg Gate in the city center.
• In London, more than 600 people gathered beneath the London Eye Ferris wheel by the River Thames to arrange themselves into the shape of the number five, according to organizers Campaign against Climate Change.
• In the Lebanese capital Beirut, hundreds of activists, many wearing snorkels, held demonstrations at key archaeological sites.
• Environmental activists in Istanbul staged their protest in a boat, unfurling a banner reading "Sun, wind, right now!" under the main bridge linking Asia and Europe over the Bosphorus Strait, the Anatolia news agency reported.

Source: Press TV