A massive climate-justice demonstration took place Thursday, February 7, in the Netherlands. According to Euronews, thousands of students skipped class to join a massive protest in the Dutch city The Hague that took them past their nation's parliament. According to The Washington Post, organizers were hoping for around 3,000 students but got a lot more support than they expected.

The protest came after five weeks of similar student actions in Belgium, where the Associated Press reported students have skipped school the last five Thursdays to press for action on climate change. This all started last month, when 70,000 gathered in Brussels, Belgium's capital city, for the nation's "biggest climate march ever," according to The Washington Post. That event was organized by Youth for Climate, according to Forbes. As many as 10,000 students gathered in just one Belgian city on February 7, the AP reported.

Belgium is preparing for national elections in May, and both Belgium and the Netherlands are gearing up for European Union (EU) Parliament elections on May 26, so students are hoping to put pressure on those running.

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“Your political games, they’re very funny and all, but you’re the influences of our future,” Belgian organizer Anuna De Wever, 17, told BuzzFeed News. She called the protests “better than voting.”

“We’re here because we want the government to take quicker and better steps to improve the climate,” Maartje Bood, a 16-year-old who trekked 125 miles to be at Thursday's march in The Hague, told the Post. The Post reported that Maartje and her friends were holding a banner calling for the return of the Elfstedentocht (translation: Eleven Cities Tour), a 120-mile ice skating race that's only possible when there's enough ice in the country. It hasn't been held since 1997.

“The earth is warming up — everyone knows that,” 17-year-old Berber Neef said. “We need tougher measures. The government has to act.”

Kim van Sparrentak, a 29-year-old Dutch student who's running in those EU elections, laid out what's happening in the protests in an interview with Euronews, saying, "This is really the climate generation we are talking about here."