Climate change protesters charged as protests continue

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Three people were charged yesterday after three separate unauthorized protests in the Inner West, South Sydney and Sydney’s Eastern Beaches.

Following a police operation which lasted until the evening, a man who had suspended himself from a crane in Port Botany was arrested and taken to the Maroubra police station.

It came as protests over climate change continue for a fourth day and students marched for climate action on the other side sydney.
A protester hangs from a crane in Port Botany. (9News)
A protester hangs from a crane in Port Botany.
A protester hangs from a crane in Port Botany. (9News)

NSW Police were called to the unauthorized protest at around 2.10pm in an attempt to get the man off the crane.

The man has since been charged with: endangering a person on a train track, remaining in a restricted area at the water’s edge without permission, refusing to comply with an order, encouraging the continuation of an operation to commit a crime and risk the safety of others by climbing a building/structure.

Protesters disrupt Sydney freight trains

Meanwhile, another climate change protester disrupted freight trains in Sydney this morning.

Police attended the scene in Tempe where the protester hung from a pole over the railway bridge over a canal near Qantas Drive.

Officers were able to drag the 25-year-old protester off the railway bridge where she was standing, arrest her and take her to the Mascot police station.

A climate change protester hangs from a railway bridge in Sydney.
A climate change protester hangs from a railway bridge in Sydney. (Facebook)

Another 62-year-old woman boarded a freight train in Marrickville around 10.45am as part of the ongoing Blockade Australia climate protests.

She too was arrested and taken to Mascot Police Station.

The young woman has been charged with: endangering the safety of a person on the railway, remaining in an unprescribed enclosed area without lawful excuse, refusing/not complying with the order and encouraging the continuation of the operation for the commission of a crime.

While the elderly woman from Wingham was charged with entering enclosed ground and not prescribed premises without lawful excuse, endangering the safety of a person on the railway and causing an obstruction to the locomotive or to rolling stock.

Police moved in to have the protester suspended over a railroad bridge in Tempe.
Police were needed to have the protester suspended over a railroad bridge in Tempe. (9News)

The Roads Amendment Regulation 2022 will be established to make it an offense to disturb any bridge or tunnel crossing Greater Sydney.

The regulation is made under section 144G of the Roads Act 1993, but currently only applies to disturbances on the Sydney Harbor Bridge.

Section 144G carries a maximum penalty of 200 penalty units ($22,000) or imprisonment for two years, or both.

Students strike for the climate

Earlier today young people gathered outside the Prime Minister’s house in Sydney to strike for climate action.

A large number of students gathered outside Kirribilli House for the climate change protest scheduled for today.

For 13-year-old Ella, the climate disaster hit her personally when recent floods destroyed her home in Lismore.

School children gather outside the Kirribilli house to call for climate action.
Ella and Natasha, among other students, gather outside Kirribilli’s house to call for climate action. (9News)

“It means I lost my home and can’t go to school, can’t see my friends and had to flee and stay on the Gold Coast with my family for a bit,” she told 9News.

“I hope to get Scott Morrison to listen to us and stop funding fossil fuels.”

Event organizer Natasha made an impassioned plea to the Morrison government to stop funding the fossil fuel industry.

A large group of students gather outside Kirribilli House for the climate protest.
A large group of students gather outside Kirribilli House for the climate protest. (9News)

“Young people are angry because we are seeing climate catastrophe after climate catastrophe,” she said.

“We know fossil fuels are the cause and the Morrison government continues to calm down and support the fossil fuel industry like the Kurri Kurri Gas Plant.

“They tell young people that they have a climate solution and climate plans, but these are just empty words.

“It’s absolutely despicable for them to say this as they continue to support the fossil fuel industry.”

Students march through Sydney to demand climate action.
Students march through Sydney to demand climate action. (9News)
Students march through Sydney to demand climate action.
The march started at Camperdown and heads towards Kirribilli. (9News)

Hundreds of thousands of students are set to demonstrate across the country today.

“Students are striking because they are terrified of the future they are inheriting and horrified by the unequal implications for others,” said Dr Blanche Verlie, climate justice expert at the Sydney Environment Institute at the University of Sidney.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison left his home in Kirribilli early this morning ahead of the planned protest outside his front door at midday.

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