Adani protest: Arrested French film crew at scene of latest Brisbane protest
Anti-Adani protesters have agreed to end a blockade at a Brisbane industrial site after workers complained to police they couldn’t leave despite finishing their shifts hours ago.
QLD News
Don't miss out on the headlines from QLD News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
AN anti-Adani protest at a Pinkenba industrial site is over.
Following discussions between police and Specialised Concrete Pumping, protesters have agreed to let workers leave the site
Police said they were happy with the outcome.
Two protesters have been escorted on to the property with police to hold discussions about their action and demands for the company to cease its involvement with Adani.
The remaining protesters are leaving the site.
Mr Pennings said Meales had refused to respond to calls or emails to discuss the groups concerns, so they were happy to speak with the company about SCP and Meales support for the Adani project.
EARLIER A group of anti-Adani protesters are blockading another industrial site in Brisbane.
The group has formed a blockade across what it believes is another Meales site — Specialised Concrete Pumping — after previously stopping trucks at the Meales’ Windsor site last week.
Specialised Concrete Pumping says it has no affiliation either with Meales or Adani, but protesters say claims SCP is not part of the Meales group were inconsistent with their research.
They said research shows Meales Group appears to be the parent group for SCP and Meales pay the rental on the site at 111 Brownlee St, Pinkenba.
Protesters have since divided into two camps, moving one group to the neighbouring property at 103 Brownlee St after they saw someone starting to remove a fence between the two sites.
Police have also arrived at 103 Brownlee St.
Protester Ben Pennings said he walked on to the property to take photos and believed SCP were trying to enable vehicles to leave via the neighbouring property.
Protest spokeswoman Miree Le Roy said “it’s a question of semantics to say they are not working for Meales. They have trucks with Meales logos inside and jobs advertised on Jora by Meales for a Pinkenba site and Meales plant hire equipment available from Brownlee St.”
Police are not in attendance making it the first anti-Adani protest police have not attended in recent months.
Two of the three protesters arrested at the Windsor Meales site — Ben Pennings and Rae Sheridan — are on site in Pinkenba today.
On site also are the French film crew who were arrested in North Queensland who remain shocked at having been arrested last week.
One of the protesters said they approached the company Specialised Concrete Pumping to advise them of their action today and to confirm their Adani connections but said they were subsequently locked out by “the General Manager”.
Specialised Concrete Pumping has closed its internal gates minutes ago with a worker also being prevented from driving in.
A worker has approached protesters and asked “can you let us out.”
“We don’t work for Meales,” he said “We’re Specialised.”
The protester said: “sorry about the inconvenience. Humans can come and go but not vehicles”.
“This is not about you it’s about the company.”
Another worker has approached the protesters to ask if he can leave. The protesters said they would not leave or let his vehicle through.
The man then asked police if they could help but was told just to wait. He was meant to leave hours ago.
He told protesters he thought their dog looked like it wanted to go home.
Police on scene said they had been contacted by SCP saying the off shift crews at the concreting company could not leave the property.
Protesters confirmed they had not let any vehicles leave the property.
Senior Sergeant Leonie Scott is speaking with protesters.
Ms Le Roy said the Pinkenba company “needed to understand they were contributing” to climate change.
She said protesters were pleased to have the French film crew present this morning.
“I was stunned and amazed that police would arrest journalists,” she said
Ms Le Roy said protesters understood concerns of north Queenslanders.
“We know it (our actions) is agitating people in the regions and we understand why but our elected representatives don’t understand we can’t keep doing things the way they have been … government is choosing not to listen.”
Election day live: Rolling coverage as Queenslanders head to polls
After 25 days on the campaign trail, Queenslanders will in just hours head to the polls to cast their vote on who will lead the state for the next four years. FOLLOW LIVE
‘You know me’: Steven Miles urges voters to trust him to lead Qld
In an exclusive interview, on the eve of the election, Premier Steven Miles – who once likened his election battle to climbing Mount Everest – says he feels he has almost conquered the mountain.