A fire burns along the road to Jacunda National Forest, near the city of Porto Velho in the Vila Nova Samuel region which is part of Brazil's Amazon, Monday, Aug. 26, 2019. The Group of Seven nations on Monday pledged tens of millions of dollars to help Amazon countries fight raging wildfires, even as Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro accused rich countries of treating the region like a “colony.” (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

A fire burns along the road to Jacunda National Forest, near the city of Porto Velho in the Vila Nova Samuel region which is part of Brazil's Amazon, Monday, Aug. 26, 2019. The Group of Seven nations on Monday pledged tens of millions of dollars to help Amazon countries fight raging wildfires, even as Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro accused rich countries of treating the region like a “colony.” (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

Amazon fires: French activists urge more Brazil action

Some 200 demonstrators walked Saturday toward Paris City Hall

  • Aug. 31, 2019 12:00 a.m.

Pretending to be trees in the Amazon, activists marched through Paris urging Brazil’s president to do more to fight fires in the Amazon rainforest.

Some 200 demonstrators walked Saturday toward Paris City Hall, shooting white flares to represent smoke from the fires. One by one, they collapsed onto the sidewalk, representing trees felled by the blaze.

Passersby and diners in nearby cafes looked on, some in puzzlement, some offering support.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and French President Emmanuel Macron have clashed repeatedly over the fires.

Macron calls them an international climate emergency and helped rally tens of millions of dollars in aid for the region. Bolsonaro said the French leader is being colonialist, and said this week he won’t use Bic pens anymore because they’re made by a French company.

The Associated Press

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