Climate activists try to shut down ports, bridge with their own bodies

Several climate activists attempted to blockade three key Australian coal ports Sunday in protest of fossil fuels while broadcasting their actions over the internet, according to The Guardian.

Climate activists belonging to the climate protest group Blockade Australia placed themselves in harm’s way to disrupt thoroughfares essential to operations of the ports of Newcastle, Brisbane, and Melbourne, doing so while live -streaming the protests until police removed them, according to The Guardian. One activist erected a device on a rail bridge leading to a Newcastle port to suspend herself over the tracks below, while other activists similarly suspended themselves over roads leading into key coal ports in Melbourne and Brisbane, according to Blockade Australia’s website.

At least two activists have been charged in connection with the protests, according to Sky News Australia. Blockade Australia claimed that the port disruptions represent “a coordinated response to Australia’s destruction of the global climate.”

One day. Three ports. One year since the Colo raid. Like the hydra, Blockade Australia is BACK, disrupting three major ports across the continent. The climate movement cannot be decapitated.#BlockadeAustralia #ResistClimateDestruction

TODAY’S ACTIONS: https://t.co/qOYVUe8kQc

— Blockade Australia (@BlockadeAus) June 19, 2023

The protests at three of the country’s key coal ports aimed to disrupt commercial operations and shipments of coal, according to Blockade Australia’s website. The protests caused considerable traffic jams on the affected roadways as well as disruption to normal operations, according to Sky News Australia.

“Emergency service workers, particularly the police, are put in extreme danger as a result of having to go and remove people from dangerous situations,” Premier of New South Wales Chris Minns said of the protests, according to The Guardian.

Blockade Australia touts itself as “a coordinated response that aims to develop a culture of effective resistance through strategic direct action” while claiming that earlier protests “posed a viable threat to Australia’s existence,” according to its website.

Blockade Australia has made waves since its 2021 inception for shutting down major Australian roadways with de facto human shields and organizing other disruptive, “direct action” style protests to pursue its anti-fossil fuel agenda, according to its website. Blockade Australia is one of many climate activist groups that have turned to disruptive, headline-grabbing protest tactics to contest continued international dependence on fossil fuels in recent years.

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