After driving into a group of climate change protesters on Monday, a driver was given a fine and lost a few penalty points.
As part of their planned week-long campaign to disrupt the harbour city, the protestors blocked a major Sydney road, and a 31-year-old Bondi man nearly ran them over.
The driver received a $469 fine for driving carelessly and was docked three penalty points.
The driver did not cause any injuries, but several demonstrators nearly got trapped under his car’s wheels.
Before chasing the motorist across the junction, two men in high-visibility vests and holding a white banner hit the front of the driver’s bonnet.
The frantic moment the protestors were nearly run over by the grey SUV as they stood in the middle of a junction was caught on extraordinary video.
As members of the Blockade Australia activist organization marched through the city, traffic came to a complete stop. One activist blocked the Sydney Harbour Tunnel with her hatchback while being handcuffed to the steering wheel with a bike lock.
After lengthy warnings of a week of action to raise awareness about global warming, scores of activists took to the streets on Monday and Tuesday, causing pandemonium throughout the city.
With barricades, police desperately attempted to put an end to the protest. Within an hour, the protest was over, and the police had arrested 10 of the protesters.
A member of the group from Lismore proudly shared video of herself chained to the steering wheel by the neck on Monday, preventing traffic from entering the Harbour Tunnel with her white hatchback.
Up to 2,000 cars utilize the tunnel each hour as one of the main thoroughfares for commuters crossing the city’s harbor.
Mali, I’m 22 years old. I’m [here] in opposition to the climate change that is currently destroying this continent, she declared.
There are a few really irate people screaming at me, threatening me, and breaking windows and doors.
The group said in promotional materials for the march planned for June 27 to July 2 that they would “converge” on Sydney and “blockade the streets of Australia’s most vital political and economic center and cause disruption that cannot be ignored.”
The demonstration happens just a few days after police raided their home in the Blue Mountains on June 19 as part of a probe into “unauthorized protest activity.”
Blockade Recent months have seen a surge in high-profile climate protests in Australia, including the blockade of coal ports, bridges, and fossil fuel terminals.
In reaction to the group’s pranks, the NSW Parliament enacted a number of new regulations and punishments in April that are intended to deter demonstrators from obstructing traffic on bridges and tunnels.
If protesters interfere with traffic or block access to roadways, they might receive a maximum sentence of two years in prison and $22,000 in fines.
The legislation also established brand-new offenses against anyone who restrict access to important infrastructure, including ports and railroads.