Thousands of people have gathered across the country to strike in favour of stronger action on climate change.

Australia was one of the first countries to participate in the Global Strike 4 Climate protest on Friday that saw tens of thousands of people from cities all over the country taking part.

Holding picket signs in the air, the masses, including schoolchildren, were seen marching through their respective cities as they chanted for a change to environmental policies ahead of the UN Emergency Climate Summit.

Melbourne had an estimated 100,000 people rallying, while Sydney had 80,000 and Hobart 22,000.

And while protesters made their point loud and clear, there was one image floating across social media that since went viral.

The Australian Youth Coal Coalition (AYCC), which has more than 3000 Facebook followers, took aim at the hundreds of thousands of protesters by posting a photo of rubbish it claimed was left behind at a Sydney park.

“Look at the mess today’s climate protesters left behind in beautiful Hyde Park. So much plastic. So much landfill. So sad,” the group shared on its Facebook page.

The post was shared more than 34,000 times with nearly 10,000 comments mainly condemning the students for making the mess.

The AYCC continued to back its claim by posting another image on Saturday morning of a clean park.

“After the mess left behind by the climate protesters, a group of young coal supporters volunteered to do a big clean up,” the caption on the image read.

Many people were convinced the image was fake and questioned its authenticity.

“I find this so hard to believe the Climate Protesters would leave this mess in Hyde Park,” one person wrote.

“Or it’s a random photo shared to mislead. There is no credit, nothing to identify and support the claim,” added another.

“It’s not cool to lie guys,” said a third.

And they were right. The photo was not all that it seemed to be.

The photo of the rubbish isn’t of Hyde Park in Sydney — in fact, it’s not even of a park in Australia.

The photo was taken at Hyde Park 420, in London, after an annual celebration to do with marijuana in April this year.

The page has since deleted the post and it has been handed a breach of community standards and policies by Facebook.

The Hemp Trading Company posted the image to its Facebook page a day after the April event explaining the mess left behind was cleaned up by Extinction Rebellion protesters, who had demonstrated nearby.

“With #extinctionrebellion not yards away, so many of you couldn’t be bothered to clean up after yourselves … #cannabiscommunity you can do better — you need to do better,” the post had read.

Two days after Hemp Trading’s post, Royal Parks, the charity that looks after London’s eight royal parks, were forced to clarify misleading information that also did the rounds on social media during that specific event.

There's a lot of incorrect information doing the Twitter rounds this morning. This photo is the result of an unofficial event in Hyde Park on Saturday, not the #ExtinctionRebellion protestors in Marble Arch.



It costs us millions to clear #litter every year. Please take it home. pic.twitter.com/F1JtAqmnVO — Royal Parks (@theroyalparks) April 23, 2019

“There’s a lot of incorrect information doing the Twitter rounds this morning. This photo is the result of an unofficial event in Hyde Park on Saturday, not the #ExtinctionRebellion protesters in Marble Arch.”

The AYCC’s posts have left many infuriated, calling out the youth group on its credibility.

“So, after the picture with all the trash was debunked, and shown to originate from a ‘420 event’ in April, through countless comments on this facebook group, you still actually claim that ‘coal supporters’ (no picture for proof) cleaned up the mess,” one furious person commented on the group’s image of the clean park.

“Only rubbish I can see is your post. These stunts call into question the ethics, probity and judgment of all other public positions you have taken. If you can’t participate in public discourse without this kind of corrosive malfeasance, your soapbox should be kicked out from under you,” a second said.

“So you guys built a time machine to go back and clean up a mess from a pro cannabis rally in April. Wow. Dedication,” a third said.

News.com.au has contacted the AYCC for comment.

Marches, rallies and demonstrations have been held from Canberra to Kabul and Cape Town to New York.

Over 4 million on #ClimateStrike today. In 163 countries. And counting...

If you belong to the small number of people who feel threatened by us, then we we have some very bad news for you:

This is just the beginning. Change is coming - like it or not. #FridaysForFuture pic.twitter.com/MHGRNx1tnH — Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) September 21, 2019

Nations around the world recommitted at a 2015 summit in Paris to hold warming to less than 2 degrees more than pre-industrial-era levels by the end of this century, and they added a more ambitious goal of limiting the increase to 1.5 degrees.

But US President Donald Trump subsequently announced that he would withdraw the US from the agreement, which he said benefited other nations at the expense of American businesses and taxpayers.

Mr Trump called global warming a “hoax” before becoming president. He has since said he’s “not denying climate change” but is not convinced it’s man-made or permanent.

Friday’s demonstrations started in Australia, where organisers estimated 300,000 protesters marched in 110 towns and cities, including Sydney and the national capital, Canberra. Demonstrators called for their country, the world’s largest exporter of coal and liquid natural gas, to take more drastic action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Acting Prime Minister Michael McCormack — filling in while Prime Minister Scott Morrison was on a state visit to the United States — said Australia was already taking action to cut emissions. McCormack called the climate rallies “a disruption” that should have been held on a weekend to avoid inconveniences.

— with AP