Ships turned, arrests made at annual climate protest
Alex Mitchell |
Climate protesters are ramping up efforts to disrupt the fossil fuel industry, scaling and blocking a ship bound for the world’s largest coal port.
Three Greenpeace activists scaled the ship on Sunday morning at Rising Tide’s annual “protestival” at Newcastle Harbour, unveiling a banner reading “Phase Out Coal and Gas”.
After police confirmed 11 people were charged on Saturday relating to swimming, kayaking and boating to block a shipping lane, another 21 were charged on Sunday for similar “marine-related offences”.
Authorities also alleged a violent assault took place at nearby Foreshore Park involving attendees, in which a 46-year-old man was hospitalised with back, arm leg and head lacerations.
An 18-year-old man was arrested in relation to the incident but was yet to be charged.
Rising Tide claimed a coal ship, named RAGNAR, was forced to turn around on Sunday afternoon after around 95 people in 50 kayaks blocked its path.
A coal ship was also turned around on Saturday.
Earlier, three Greenpeace activists boarded a coal ship and unveiled their banner, having already written ‘Timeline Now’ on its side in non-toxic paint.
One of the activists latched onto the ship’s anchor chain.
Mina Bui Jones, who was arrested on Saturday for swimming into the shipping lane with the intention of disrupting coal delivery, said seeing ships turned around was “empowering” and showed “people stepping up where our government is failing us”.
“It was actually beautiful to be out on the water, to see this magnificent harbour,” she said.
“It was thrilling to see the boats go back into their berth, and to know that we had prevented a coal ship from making a delivery … was thrilling and I would do it again.”
Elen O’Donnell, a Greenpeace activist and doctor who scaled the ship, said the protest effort was a peaceful yet meaningful defiance.
“We’re trying to send a message that we do not want any new coal and gas projects, and we need a timeline to phase out fossil fuels,” she said.
“We’ve been up here for a couple of hours, the workers on board have been super friendly … we’ve managed to stop the ship from entering the port for its scheduled unload of coal, and we’ll stay here as long as we can.”
NSW Police said they attempted to stop a boat that had entered its exclusion zone at around 10am on Sunday, but alleged the boat failed to stop.
They said the boat allegedly collided with a police jet ski after refusing to stop, although no injuries were reported.
A series of events have run alongside the protests, including speeches, workshops and live music headlined by Australian indie pop act Lime Cordiale.
Newcastle City Council defended its decision to approve the festive events alongside the protests.
Newcastle is the world’s largest coal export port, sending 150 million tonnes offshore annually, mostly to east Asia.
AAP
