Tens of thousands in climate march before Dutch vote

Tens of thousands of climate protesters marched in The Hague Sunday, seeking to push the fight against climate change up the political agenda days ahead of an election dominated by immigration and housing.

Brandishing banners reading "The Planet Deserves Your Vote", "Vote Green" and "Make Earth Cool Again", demonstrators filled a central park before parading through the city.

Organisers put the attendance of the march at around 45,000 people.

"I think there is a lot of concern about climate policy in the Netherlands. I just don't think it's properly reflected in political discussions and what you see in this election," said Daan Zieren, 23.

"You see that parties aren't talking about it at all, even those that used to talk about it a lot," Zieren, who runs a youth climate movement, told AFP.

The most recent survey by Eenvandaag suggested that climate was a long way down the priority list for voters ahead of October 29 elections.

It came 11th out of 12 priority areas surveyed in last month's poll that surveyed 25,000 voters, giving them 25 topics and asking them to pick their top five.

Only 19 percent put climate in the top five. The top three topics were housing (58 percent), immigration (44 percent), and healthcare (40 percent).

"We hope that all the parties realise they can't get around the climate issue any more and that today gets a response from everybody," said Zieren.

Volunteer worker Marijn Roorda came dressed as a polar bear to highlight the plight of these animals as their habitat suffers from climate change.

He too voiced frustration that the topic of climate change was absent from the election campaign.

"A lot of parties don't actually care about the environment any more. There are even parties that are denying (climate change) is happening," the 47-year-old told AFP.

"I think a lot of people are concerned about climate, especially young people, but a lot of people are tired of politics," he said.

"Nothing is happening, nothing is changing, and we want to see a change."