2023-11-27 03:40:25
– 109 environmentalists arrested for blocking a port by kayak
More than a hundred people blocked maritime traffic in Newcastle, Australia, to demand the government end fossil fuel exports.
Published today at 4:40 a.m.
The authorities authorized the demonstration for 30 hours. (Pretext image)
AFP
One hundred and nine climate activists were arrested in Australia after organizing a floating blockade of the country’s largest coal port in kayaks, police announced Monday.
A fleet of dozens of kayaks blocked maritime traffic this weekend in the port of Newcastle, on the east coast of Australia, to ask the government to end exports of fossil fuels, on which the country is very dependent .
The authorities allowed the demonstration to last for 30 hours, but after that time, police boats began to close in on the activists who refused to leave their position. Among the 109 people arrested, Alan Stuart, a 97-year-old pastor, said he wanted to prevent climate disasters for his “grandchildren and future generations”.
“Climate collapse”
“We chose to risk arrest because scientists warn that to avoid catastrophic climate collapse, we must urgently phase out fossil fuels,” said the environmental group Rising Tide, which organized the blockade. New South Wales police said five juveniles were also arrested, without specifying their ages.
Several Australian states have passed strict laws targeting climate protests in recent years, drawing condemnation from civil rights NGOs and United Nations investigators. Late last year, climate activist Deanna Coco was sentenced to 15 months in prison and jailed after blocking traffic on the Sydney Harbor Bridge.
She was released on bail ten days later, before seeing her sentence overturned on appeal. Australia is one of the largest coal-producing countries in the world, whose government is currently planning to develop new coal mining and oil and gas field projects.
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