group went on an investigation and found two people with full camouflage equipment. They appeared on the radio for the help of a black car that rushed to the scene.
"We were really confused as to why these people were on the premises," said Zianna Fuad, a 29-year-old member of the climate activist group Blockade Australia.
A video released by activists shows several people sitting in a car with deflated tires, with an elderly woman yelling at four crew members, including two in camouflage. increase.
"We thought they were the right wing spying on us," Fuad said.
It turns out that they were police.
New South Wales police have revealed that the disguised man is an officer of the Strike Force Guard, a special forces formed in March. Already causing confusion in central Sydney, it has offended some road users.
During the rush hour on Monday morning, protesters marched through the Central Business District, one activist was trapped in a car and blocked access to the Sydney Harbor Tunnel.
Increasing police surveillance of protesters is part of the state's rigorous new approach to destructive climate behavior, which rights groups claim to set a "disturbing precedent for protest rights."
After protests earlier this year, some climate activists were ordered not to leave home under strict bail conditions that could result in imprisonment if they went out. Others were deported.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) Australian researcher Sophie McNeill said climate change protesters are "disproportionate to legal proceedings by Australian authorities." Stated.
New South Wales Police Minister Paul Toole said the protest was peaceful but unapproved and unacceptable. "This destructive and dangerous behavior is illegal and anyone who participates will be arrested," he said in a statement to CNN.
After last Sunday's surveillance, 10 members of the protest group were charged with multiple crimes, including assault and sabotage of police officers, property destruction or damage.
Deputy New South Wales Police Commissioner and Strikeforce Guard Commander Paul Danstan told reporters that the police officers involved were "fearing their lives."
Attorney Mark Davis, who represents most of the defendants, contacts 15 of the non-association list of climate activists edited by police during a court hearing by several arrested activists. Said it was banned. Two were denied bail and at least one was expelled from the state after posting a smiley face on another group member's Facebook page and finding out that they violated the bail terms.
In Australia's most populous states, the relationship between authorities and climate change activists was not always this serious. A problem arose last November when the Australian blockade temporarily shut down the world's largest coal port.
House arrest
Over 166 million tons of cargo pass through the Port of Newcastle each year. This includes millions of tonnes of coal carried by rail. Hunter region.
However, for 11 days in November 2021, Australian blockade activists disabled machines and railroads to a port 163 km (101 miles) north of Sydney on the east coast of Australia. It was closed. Mr Fadd said she and her fellow activists were rappelled by coal loaders, which prevented them from contacting each other for two years.
At the time, then-New South Wales police minister, David Elliott, said destructive behavior was unacceptable, and in April Congress sentenced him to two years in prison and $ 22,000 ($ 15,270). Approved stricter penalties, including fines for. Illegal protests on roads, railroads, tunnels, bridges and industrial complexes.
Signatories include the Human Rights Law Center and Greenpeace, along with environmental advocacy offices, where climate activists routinely impose disproportionate and excessive penalties and bail conditions that limit freedom of association. I have received a report earlier. assembly. "
Climate change activists say they need to break bonds by direct action and are willing to endanger safety and freedom.
But while Australians want more action against climate change, many have responded angry to the devastating tactics of the Australian blockade, lawyer Davis said. The group said it wasn't popular with the general public.
"Of course, the fact that they dare to block the road offends people," he said. "I understand that roads shouldn't be blocked, but let's not be hysterical about what the threat means and why not give some leeway to political expression.
Civil resistance group Fireproof Australia's Violet Coco was arrested in a full house for 21 days after standing with flares on a truck parked near the Sydney Harbor Bridge in April explaining the urgent need. it was done. Climate change measures on Facebook live broadcast.
According to Human Rights Watch, she was charged with seven crimes, including accusations of explosives for holding flares. She blocked traffic, pleaded guilty to not complying with police orders, and on other charges A $ 10,000 ($ 7,000), provided she did not leave the apartment for reasons other than emergency medical care and court appearances. I was released on bail.
"Even among Covid, we were allowed to walk an hour a day, and these bail conditions are more stringent than repeating domestic violent criminals," she said. rice field. "What are we doing to give them to peaceful protesters?"
Attorney Davis said home arrest is usually a violent criminal or serious. He said it was reserved for those who pose a flight risk. "Bail is there to ensure you're back in court, not to punish you," Davis said.
In May, Coco's bail conditions were relaxed, allowing a 31-year-old musician to leave his home between 10 am and 3 pm. She-she said she chose the time so as not to interfere with peak traffic.
She currently lives in Lismore, a city in northern New South Wales, which was wiped out by floods in March, helping community groups rebuild her home. She said she would apply to further relax her bail terms.
"This is ridiculous," she said. "I live in Lismore. There is no peak traffic."
Expulsion from the state
3 months ago, 32 years old in Brisbane Environmental scientist Alex Pearse was hanging on the railroad tracks from an 8-meter pole. He tracks Port Botany, New South Wales' largest container port, and blocks the supply chain for nearly two hours.
NSW police said in a statement at the time, "Railway authorities had to stop all freight trains on the line."
Mr Pierce said railroad authorities were warned of imminent action. It is certainly so.
When police finally dropped him, he was charged with four crimes, including encouraging the execution of the crime, based on a live Facebook broadcast taken while hanging from the pole. it was done.
Pierce pleads guilty to two out of four indictments and waits for his next appearance, provided he checks in to Queensland Police every two days. Exiled from Queensland. "They wanted to rob me of my passport and ban me from the international airport," he said, adding that the judge rejected the request.
Environmental scientist Pierce travels to Australia to monitor the mangrove ecosystem and sees the damage caused by the climate crisis up close. His bail terms have stopped it, and he has no idea when the court proceedings will end.
"The level of surveillance and repression given to ordinary everyday people who just want to show dissatisfaction with the state's response to climate change is unprecedented and frank. It ’s very scary to say, ”he said.
Both Coco and Pierce are banned from traveling and will not participate in the "Week of Resistance" in Sydney. Nor does Arno, a 21-year-old German worker vacationer who was deported after participating in the Port Botany protest in March.
Arno, using an alias to protect his identity, arrived in Australia in November 2021 and worked at a construction site to fund his trip. was doing. He attended a briefing organized by Blockade Australia and leaned out of a pole attached to a harbor bridge on March 23, blocking traffic for three hours.
Minister Arno's involvement in promoting this week's climate change measures in Sydney is" more within the community. Extreme discord within the community on both sides of the climate change spectrum, causing division. "
Arno spent a week in prison and then four weeks at the Villawood Immigration Detention Center before being sent back to Germany. Said that. Instead of his real name, his 23-year-old brother Tom was also deported for participating in the protest and was banned from entering Australia for three years. Arno, who is currently unemployed, is trying to repay thousands of dollars for Australian fines and deportation.
He states that he does not believe that stricter penalties in New South Wales will discourage climate activists.
"People really know what the consequences of not acting and not resisting this extraction system," he said. "And people are also aware that this is a system that protects itself again, prioritizing the interests of the wealthy 1% over the interests of the majority of the population."
Climate Emergency Things shook votes in the last election, confirming the views expressed in polls that Australians want greater climate action. In the election, members of Australia's most environmentally friendly party, the Greens, joined parliament, and new independents argued that they would move to renewable energy more quickly than the majority of Labor promised.
The newly elected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has vowed to end the "climate war" (a left-right debate over the costs of both climate change actions and omissions), but so far. But for the states where catastrophic climate change protests are at stake.
Strengthening the system for climate activists
Australia is not the only state in New South Wales that is in a difficult situation for climate activists. Tasmania is trying to fine protesters who disrupt business or pose "serious risks" and pass amendments to impose longer imprisonment. And Victoria is considering legislation for people protesting the logging of primeval forests.
The crackdown is not just for those participating in the protest, but for those who are involved in anything that seems to be related to the possibility of protests, as was seen in the raid last Sunday. It extends to.
"It is vigilant and disproportionate to send 100 armed police officers to intimidate and intimidate those planning peaceful protests," said the Human Rights Law Center's legal affairs. Alice Drury, director, said in a statement.
This week, more than 250 police officers have been deployed in large areas of Sydney to prevent "significant turmoil" from being expected.
NSW police arrested 10 people and sought public assistance to identify others who participated. "Expect your door to be knocked, we'll come to you to be arrested," said Danstan, deputy commissioner of the New South Wales Police Force.
"The actions of this group were nothing but criminal acts," he added. "You are not allowed to throw bicycles, trash cans, or anything else on police roads, media roads, or the roads of innocent people just passing by."
Activists Previously bailed out risk prisons if they went near protest sites or if they contacted each other by any means.
Activist Fuad said he didn't want to go to jail "really, really", but they claimed he had few options. "We haven't been listened to, so it feels like we're at a point where we need to escalate our response deeply."
Blockade Australia doesn't have a specific request list. .. We want governments, businesses and the media to act on the scale of a climate emergency.
"My community has been destroyed by the climate disaster already here," Fuad said.
"We are an incredibly mining country and I think young people are aware that this is the only option we have left."
