Environmentalist and anti-capitalist demonstration draws hundreds in Barcelona

Hundreds of young people demonstrated on Saturday in Barcelona in defense of environmentalism and against the capitalist system.

In the run-up to the European elections, different youth groups and ecologists made an appeal for a "change of course" for a better future in respect to the climate crisis, despite the feeling that damage that has already been done is irreversible .

"It's time to say enough. We want a dignified future and it will only be dignified if we build it," said one of the spokespersons of the demonstration, Júlia Roig.

The demonstration, attended by 1,700 according to local police and 3,000 according to the organizers, marched from Arc de Triomf to Plaça de Catalunya.

Demonstrators call for an end to the "tourist monoculture" which they say "destroys the land, exploits labor and expels locals."

The protest also urged for a slowdown of the economy, pushing forward for a model of production and consumption of proximity, and a redistribution of wealth.

"Life under the capitalist system is unsustainable," the program summarized. Júlia Roig added that for years young people have felt that there is "no future" available to them: "We don't have jobs, we don't have money and we can't leave home. We are tired of living in a system that suffocates us every day."

Youth groups and environmentalists were joined in the march by social entities linked to the housing crisis, and they warned that the effects of capitalism on people's health are unequal depending on the level income.

Climate change, they add, is caused by "the emissions of the rich" but "affects the working class."