Arrests top 150 as three-day climate action makes waves
Tom Wark and Alex Mitchell |
More than a dozen people have been arrested in an early-morning climate protest as a final swansong for one of the year’s biggest activist events.
Having boarded coal ships in previous days, protesters turned their attention to onshore coal loading equipment on the final day of Rising Tide’s annual “Protestival” at the Port of Newcastle on Monday.
About 5am, 16 protesters locked on to coal loaders and conveyor belts in an “unanuthorised protest”, NSW Police say.
Fifteen of the group were arrested with all bar one released on bail. A 73-year-old man will face a bail court on Tuesday.
A 17-year-old boy was released without charge.
Before their arrest, the protesters unfurled a banner on a coal loader addressing Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, saying “Albo – Stop all new coal and gas – or we will!”.
The 15 arrests on Monday morning add to the 141 made as of 5.30pm on Sunday, taking the total number of arrests linked to the Rising Tide event to at least 156.
Many protesters, including federal Greens leader Larissa Waters, cited a desire for an end to new fossil fuel projects as their reason for obstructing the port’s operations.
Another smaller group of protesters were set to launch a new campaign on Monday afternoon against a planned transition from coal exporting to weapons manufacturing in the Hunter Valley.
The group, known as Demilitarise Newcastle, were expected to rally outside the electorate office of local federal MP and Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy while “calling the transition from coal to weapons a transition from ecocide to genocide”.
The only incidence of violence reported from the Rising Tide event involved an 18-year-old accused of assaulting a man and his son at nearby Foreshore Park.
Xavier Simmonds faced a bail court on Monday charged with two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and one of wounding a person with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Police allege Simmonds smashed a bong over a 46-year-old’s head about 11.20am on Sunday, the court heard. He is also accused of assaulting that man’s 17-year-old son when he intervened.
The 46-year-old was taken to hospital for treatment to cuts to his head, arms, legs and head.
Simmonds made partial admissions and had indicated he wanted to apologise to the victim, the court was told before he was granted conditional bail.
It was regrettable police were forced to step in to such an extent, Premier Chris Minns said, but he would not apologise for the large number of arrests.
“If the police would turn a blind eye, it would make a mockery of the state’s laws, and it would effectively be a green light for more of this kind of behaviour,” he told reporters.
Fiona Lee was one of the people who chained themselves to a coal loader on Monday.
She said the experience of losing her home in the Black Summer bushfires brought home the realities of climate change.
“I can not stand by as our government continues to approve the new coal and gas projects that are making these unnatural disasters worse,” she said.
Newcastle is the world’s largest coal export port, sending 150 million tonnes offshore annually, mostly to east Asia.
AAP
