Belgian minister resigns over school-strike conspiracy claims

Joke Schauvliege falsely claimed state agencies had evidence that children's climate change protests were a 'set-up'

A Belgian environment minister has been forced to resign after falsely claiming the country's intelligence services held evidence that children skipping school to demonstrate over climate change were being directed by unnamed powers.

Joke Schauvliege, a minister in Flanders, where the school-strikes movement first emerged, provoked a wave of criticism of the wider political class after suggesting the protests were a "set-up" and "more than spontaneous actions of solidarity".