By Alex Crowe
More climate protests are planned for Melbourne next week after three demonstrators blocked traffic on Melbourne’s West Gate Bridge on Tuesday.
Extinction Rebellion is set to stage more disruptions, with a spokeswoman for the group saying activists plan to hold Rebel for Life demonstrations over three days beginning on March 13, calling on the government to declare a climate emergency.
Those demonstrations will mimic protests the group organised in December, which included a slow march that stopped traffic in the CBD and led to the arrest of multiple protesters.
The demonstrators on Tuesday included serial activist Deanna “Violet” Maree Coco, 33, who was jailed in December 2022 after being the first person charged under NSW’s anti-protest laws for a protest on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Coco, a 68-year-old man from Burnside Heights and a 51-year-old man from Williamstown were all arrested and charged with public nuisance, hindering police, obstructing police and obstruction of a roadway after they allegedly used a truck to block traffic on the West Gate Bridge at 7.45am, causing major delays.
They then climbed onto the truck’s roof to unfurl banners that said “climate breakdown has begun” and “declare a climate emergency”.
Police detained the three protesters after using a cherry picker to remove them from the roof of the truck. All city-bound lanes on the bridge reopened shortly after 10am.
“Three people climbed on top of the truck before lighting a flare. Police negotiated with the group; however, they refused to come down from the truck,” a Victoria Police spokesperson said.
In December 2022, Coco was sentenced to 15 months’ jail for her role in a protest on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and banned from going within one kilometre of the landmark.
She was the first person to be charged under anti-protest laws the NSW government passed in April 2022, which introduced fines of up to $22,000 and up to two years in jail for anyone found to have blocked major infrastructure.
Extinction Rebellion protesters have caused traffic chaos on the West Gate Bridge.
Coco’s arrest drew condemnation from human rights groups and opponents of tough protest laws at the time. She was released after a court heard she was initially imprisoned on false information provided by the NSW police.
The NSW Supreme Court struck down part of the anti-protest laws in December 2023, ruling that criminalising activities that cause partial closures or redirections around ports and train stations was constitutionally invalid.
In Melbourne, Tuesday’s protest created delays for city-bound commuters that continued throughout the morning. Traffic slowed down on a stretch of the Princes Freeway between the bridge to Point Cook Road, and along the Western Freeway on the M80 Ring Road.
One driver reported taking two hours to travel just 13 kilometres.
Serial protester Deanna “Violet” Maree CoCo.Credit: James Brickwood
Another woman told the ABC her granddaughter would miss a hospital appointment for an electroencephalogram as a result of the protests.
“She’s 20 months old and they’re coming from a regional area,” the listener texted in.
Caller Raj, stuck in traffic near Yarraville, said he supported the protesters’ cause but thought their tactics were misguided.
“Isn’t the idea of a civil society that everyone enjoys their own rights without stamping on other peoples’?” he said. “If they think this is going to make any difference whatsoever, they are dreaming.”
The truck was used to block three lanes of traffic during Tuesday’s peak hour.Credit: Nine News
Sally, a teacher who spoke to ABC radio, said climate change was creating anxiety among her students and there was a need to draw attention to it.
She said she understood why drivers were frustrated, but that anger shouldn’t be directed towards the protesters.
“There is something undemocratic about being an elected government and not doing something to protect your country,” she said.
Police minister Anthony Carbines said the behaviour from “a small number of idiots was completely unacceptable”.
“It is clear that these individuals would like to cause mass disruptions which can put the safety of both themselves and others in the community at risk.”
The activists used a truck to block lanes of traffic.Credit: Nine News
He added Victoria’s anti-protest laws “strike the right balance between ensuring police have the tools they need to maintain public order while protecting the rights of citizens to peacefully protest”.
The demonstration comes as political leaders from across Asia converge on Melbourne for the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit, which began this week. The summit includes a Climate and Clean Energy Transition Forum, where delegates will focus on an accelerated clean energy transition.
An Extinction Rebellion spokeswoman said the timeline and scale of proposed measures did not come close to the speed and level required.
She added that Australia must show leadership at the ASEAN summit by declaring a climate and ecological emergency and calling on other ASEAN leaders to do the same.
Opposition senator Simon Birmingham called the protests “pointless” and “bordering on counterproductive”.
“It’s thoughtless for the thousands and thousands of Victorians that it impacts, and it’s pointless because it’s not going to have an impact on policies of South-East Asian nation leaders who are here, or frankly of Australia,” he told ABC radio.
“It is going to – in the counterproductive sense – just drive further divisiveness of people who see protest like this and think of it as an extremist action, rather than an important serious mainstream policy consideration.”
Birmingham said he had previously acknowledged the Coalition “had problems” regarding climate policy during its time in power, but Australia’s emissions still trended down during that period.
“We did oversee a period of significant investment in clean energy, of significant reduction in Australia’s emissions and they were important achievements, but of course, there is much more to be done to achieve net zero,” he said.
“We are having tough decisions and discussions within the Liberal and National parties at present about how you track the pathway to net zero, including previously unspoken topics in Australia like the questions around nuclear energy.”
The protesters are due to appear in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday night.
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2024-03-04 21:16:53Z
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