Anti-Adani activists brought city traffic to a standstill for hours to protest against a recently approved $21 billion mining project, and plan to hold the same protest every day of the next week.
About 40 Extinction Rebellion protestors blocked 10 intersections in the Brisbane CBD for 10 minutes each, causing major traffic delays on July 11. They held the protest partly because the Queensland Government gave final approval for construction to begin at the Carmichael Coal Project, 160km northwest of Clermont.
“We’re rebels, we’re protestors, we need to act now, we are in the sea of mass extinction,” one protestor told the Nine Network.
Traffic diverted for three hours
Queensland police diverted traffic for three hours and eventually arrested protestor Eric Herbert again after he was earlier fined $550 for public nuisance and contravening a direction when he super glued himself to a Queen Street pedestrian crossing on June 14.
When Herbert was released the second time he showed no intention of stopping his civil disobedience, saying it “sounds like a good idea” to super glue himself to a busy pedestrian crossing once again.
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Police said no charges were made against the rest of the protestors because “there is no offence in taking part in an unauthorised protest”.
“Don’t be an idiot,” Brisbane Police Commissioner Mark Ryan told a press conference. “You can protest just do so lawfully and peacefully.”
‘Clowns’ warned their tactics won’t work
Deputy Opposition Leader Tim Mander suggested the protesters’ approach to block intersections with signs saying “12 years to save Earth” and “there is no future on a dead planet” did not actually help their cause.
“These clowns have to learn that these types of tactics will not work,” Mander told reporters.
‘Get a f–ing job’ say motorists
Motorists who witnessed the protest honked their horns angrily and told the group to “get a f–ing job”.
“I am an Uber driver, I have just lost five jobs sitting here waiting,” one man told the Nine Network.
One man stepped out of his car to confront the protestors.
“So you’re uneducated yet you are holding everybody up,” the motorist told the group.
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