More than 100 climate change activists have been arrested in Australia after a two-day blockade of the world’s largest coal port.

Climate activist group Rising Tide, which organised the action at the Port of Newcastle on Australia’s east coast, said around 1,500 people were at the protest.

Hundreds of them swam in the water or were in kayaks as they carried out a 30-hour blockade which ran until 4pm local time on Sunday (5am UK time).

Image:
A large police boat, bottom right, approaches a group of kayakers carrying out the blockade. Pic: Rising Tide

Around 300 of the protesters were in the shipping channel at the port.

A Port of Newcastle spokesperson said on Saturday: “At present, due to the number of people currently in the shipping channel, all shipping movements have ceased due to safety concerns, irrespective of the cargo they are carrying or intend to load.”

Rising Tide called the blockade the “biggest act of civil disobedience for climate in Australia’s history”.

Pic: Rising Tide
Image:
Pic: Rising Tide

New South Wales Police said officers arrested 109 people after 4pm on Sunday when a “Form 1 relating to an authorised assembly in the Port of Newcastle expired”.

The force said in a statement: “Police will allege in court that a number of protesters purposely entered the harbour channel after this time despite appropriate warnings and directions by police.”

Police said 49 men and 60 women were arrested, with five juveniles among those detained.

Pic: Rising Tide
Image:
Pic: Rising Tide

Following the action after 4pm on Sunday, Rising Tide organiser Alexa Stuart had said more than 100 people, with the youngest being 15 and the oldest 97, were still on the water and risking arrest.

It is not clear if the 97-year-old, Revered Alan Stuart, was among those arrested.

He said of the blockade: “I am doing this for my grandchildren and future generations because I don’t want to leave them a world full of increasingly severe and frequent climate disasters.

“I am so sorry that they will have to suffer the consequences of our inaction. So, I think it is my duty to do what I can and to stand up for what I know is right.”

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Ms Stuart has said Rising Tide wants the Australian government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to “say no to new coal projects” and agree to “tax coal exports at 75% to fund the transition” to cleaner fuel sources.

She added in a statement: “If the government will not take action on climate change the people will use civil disobedience. We wish we did not have to do this, but the Albanese government needs to understand we are serious.”

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Climate change is a divisive issue in Australia, the world’s biggest exporter of thermal coal behind Indonesia, and the top
exporter of coking coal, used to make steel.https://news.sky.com/topic/australia-4608

The Port of Newcastle, 105 miles (some 170 km) from New South Wales state capital Sydney, is the largest bulk shipping port on the east coast and Australia’s largest terminal for coal exports, according to the state government.