A central organiser of school climate strikes in 2019 is among several young people arrested after Newcastle and Melbourne ports were targeted in a third straight day of disruptive action.
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Early on Wednesday, 20-year-old woman Niamh abseiled off Shepherd Bridge on Footscray Road, blocking six lanes of traffic in and out of the major Port of Melbourne.
At the same time, 22-year-old Angus spent more than five hours perched atop a nine-metre pole on a rail bridge at Branxton, forcing the closure of the NSW Hunter railway line, with no trains running between Scone and Maitland.
By mid-morning both protesters, who are associated with Blockade Australia, had been removed by police and arrested.
Niamh is expected to be charged with public nuisance offences and says she decided to take disruptive action after failing to gain the attention of politicians through other forms of protest.
"When I was 15, I was asked to run a school strike in the lead-up to the 2019 election," she said during a live-stream of the protest.
"With 150 students and peers, I went to my local MP's office and they ignored us when we asked them to take real action on climate change.
"I campaigned again in the 2022 election ... and again I have seen no real action taken on the climate crisis."
It is the third day of action by activists targeting major east coast coal ports and comes after another young woman named Grace scaled a coal loader overnight and glued herself to a railing.
The 18-year-old from Canberra was charged with entering a major facility to cause damage and causing a serious safety risk.
She was granted bail on condition she not enter any rail corridor except as a fare-paying passenger and not go within one kilometre of any port.
Angus was charged with causing an obstruction to a railway locomotive or rolling stock and causing a serious safety risk.
He was granted conditional bail and is due to appear at Singleton Local Court on July 13.
NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley labelled the protesters "crazy" and "blockheads" and their behaviour "absolute nonsense".
"Their actions do absolutely nothing for the environment or climate change," she told Sydney radio 2GB.
"They are endangering the lives of those around them and in particular the lives of those coming to rescue them," she said.
"Imagine the train drivers ... it's not like stopping a car, it can take up to a kilometre to stop a train and that would be a train driver's worst nightmare."
Blockade Australia activist Munro Monroe, who was arrested on Tuesday after blocking the Port of Melbourne, said this week's protests were deliberately co-ordinated to avert the climate crisis.
"Direct action tactics are very effective in creating change and it's change we need to see at the moment," Mr Monroe said.
Mr Monroe was initially charged with five offences including public nuisance but said after pleading his case to a magistrate all charges were dropped.
He said laws impacting protesters in Victoria are far more relaxed than elsewhere in the country.
"I feel so much for the people in NSW and Queensland and what they're going through at the moment," Mr Monroe said.
"The laws they've introduced in those states are atrocious, they're absurd."
Australian Associated Press
