Two protesters have been granted bail after allegedly disrupting the shipping channel leading into the world’s largest coal port during an anti-fossil fuels demonstration. Hundreds of people took to the water in Newcastle over the weekend, with some paddling past a police barrier to block ships. Romy Stephens reports from Newcastle.
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00:00170 people were arrested during an anti-fossil fuels demonstration on Newcastle harbour yesterday.
00:11It happened around 10 o'clock in the morning when a large number of protesters used their
00:16kayaks to paddle past a barrier of police boats and enter the shipping channel which
00:22leads into the port of Newcastle.
00:25156 adults and 14 youths were eventually charged.
00:30138 were charged with disruption of a major facility and then 32 were charged with not
00:37comply with direction by authorised officer relating to safety.
00:41Two of those arrested appeared in Newcastle local court today.
00:45They included Andrew George and Naomi Hodgson.
00:48The court heard Miss Hodgson was previously on bail in relation to other protest matters
00:53and that she breached that bail.
00:55Both protesters were granted bail today with conditions.
01:00Protest organiser Rising Tide spoke after that judgement.
01:03The protest laws under which many people were charged are, I believe, politically motivated.
01:09It's a real shame that they've been applied in this circumstance.
01:12Our governments can't arrest their way out of their own failure by continuing to approve
01:16new coal and gas in a climate crisis and not taking care of hunter workers.
01:19That's why we are out on the water and until they do their job people will continue to
01:23protest.
01:24People take these measures because they feel as though they have no other choice and they
01:27are willing to accept the consequences of their actions unlike many of our politicians.
01:31Rising Tide has also said that it will proceed with heading to Canberra this week to continue
01:37with demonstrations.