"Our education is important for our future, but so is this."

These are the words of a teenager who is one of ten from Deal and Dover who has skipped school today to protest against climate change.

The youngsters, aged from 14 to 18, hailing from Dover Grammar School for Boys and Girls, Sandwich Technology School and Goodwin Academy face inclusion for their decision to demonstrate rather than attend lessons.

But Catherine Row, 17, from You Strike 4 Climate said: "School say that our education is important for our future but this is also important for our future."

Vivien Hardy, 17, added: "We know the school can't legally allow us to do this but we're going to do it anyway, regardless of the consequences.

"Protesting can cause disruption but it is the most efficient way to make a point heard.

"Standard forms have been done for the past 30 years and still not enough has been done.

"We have to take radical action."

Miss Hardy and her friends were joined by around 20 adults from East Kent Climate Action as they marched through Deal High Street from 11am.

Starting at Deal Town Hall and finishing outside the former Marks and Spencer store, they held placards and chanted 'There's no planet B', 'KCC Step Up' and 'No more coal, no more oil, keep the carbon in the soil'.

Passers-by were given maps showing how the coastline could be affected and heard speeches which blamed the "rich and powerful" for holding the country back.

Miss Hardy said: "This decade is our last chance to stop the chain of motion. If we have a rise of two or three degrees by 2050, most of Deal will be underwater.

"We're asking the government to reduce its time plan.

"We need to be carbon neutral by 2030 instead of 2050. The government is not well known for meeting it's targets. If the target remains at 2050 and we go over by ten years, it will be an absolute disaster."

Savalan Baychan, 14, who grew up in Sweden where the average person's carbon dioxide usage is 4 tonnes per year compared to the UK's 6.7 tonnes, says the government is making a false promise by saying it will be carbon neutral by 2050.

He said: "If we want to have 0% emissions by 2050, we need to have all electric cards by 2035, expand our UK forest by 30% and a heavy portion of the population needs to be vegan."

Sonja Watsham, from East Kent Climate Action, said she was disappointed with the number of young people in attendance.

She said: "We didn't have the numbers we were expecting, I think, because they [pupils] have been threatened with isolation.

"Those who have come are very determined, and they're learning so many life skills by doing what they're doing."

The group had tried to bring a whale made from plastic into the High Street as part of its demonstration but say they were stopped by police officers.

The large artwork, which featured in this year's Deal Carnival, features the equivalent amount of plastic which enters the sea every half a second.

Instead, it was demoted to the Middle Street car park where drivers could see its 'Let's use less plastic' message.

Kent Police spokesman said: "Officers on patrol in Deal during the morning of Friday 20 September 2019 were made aware of a vehicle making a delivery to High Street.

"Following enquiries with Deal Town Council, it was confirmed the delivery was not permitted to be left in the street, so the driver was advised to obtain the correct permissions and in the meantime, move to avoid blocking the street."

Four pupils from Warden House Primary School joined in with the protests taking place all over the world.

They met their fellow pupils at the school gates with a banner they had made and chants they had written themselves.

This included: 'Climate change, stop it now, ask the children, they know how!'

The small group has also set up a Climate Change Research Club.

Read more: All the latest news from Deal