A protest calling for action over climate change is taking place in Colchester.

Students around the world are missing classes to take to the streets to protest against their governments' failure to take sufficient action against global warming.

The co-ordinated "school strikes", being held from the South Pacific to the edge of the Arctic Circle, were inspired by 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who began holding solitary demonstrations outside the Swedish parliament last year.

Since then, the weekly protests have snowballed from a handful of cities to hundreds, driven by social media-savvy students and dramatic headlines about the impact of climate change.

Students in Colchester joined a march called YouthStrike4Climate organised on Friday in the town centre.

Friday's rallies are expected to be one of the biggest international actions yet.

Protests were being held in cities in more than 100 countries including Hong Kong; New Delhi, India and Oulo, Finland.