Anti-coal activists cause havoc by blocking two ports for second day
Climate activists in Brisbane and Melbourne ground major roads into two of Australia’s biggest ports to a halt this morning, freezing the flow of all exports and imports.
For the second day in a row, Blockade Australia shut down operations at Port of Brisbane and Port of Melbourne by hanging activists off harnesses which were suspended over key access points.
At 9.15 AEST, the man blocking Port of Melbourne was yet to be taken down by police, while the Brisbane activist had been brought to ground after two hours of disruption.
The flow of all goods in and out of both ports was abruptly stopped, causing severe disruption to supply lines.
Speaking to 9News, one frustrated truck driver languishing in a long line of backed up traffic said the activists were causing more harm than good.
“You’re putting this many people’s lives at stakes and their daily earnings,” he said.
Another driver called it a “waste of time”, while one truckie urged the activists to think of him at 10pm tonight “when I’m still working and they’re at home in bed”.
Blockade Australia yesterday froze operations at Port of Newcastle, the biggest coal port in the world, on a day of “coordinated” protests “in response to Australia’s facilitation of the climate and ecological crisis,” the group declared.
They want the government to stop the export of coal and take greater action to cut the nation’s carbon emissions.
With the third largest reserves of coal in the world, Australia is the second largest coal exporter on the planet.
