Brisbane traffic: Protester who caused huge delays with stunt has been charged
A single protester who caused peak hour traffic chaos this morning with a tripod stunt has been charged for the obstruction.
QLD News
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A protester who suspended herself on an “uncomfortable” tripod above a major Brisbane arterial road for two hours, which created peak hour chaos, has been charged.
The 29-year-old South Brisbane woman told viewers in a livestream on Extinction Rebellion’s Facebook page that the discomfort she felt while suspended in the air was nothing compared to the “discomfort caused from the climate crisis.”
Long delays were experienced along Brisbane’s major thoroughfare after the protester set up the apparatus on Boomerang Street, a primary northbound artery off the Riverside Expressway at 7.15am, as fellow protesters blocked two northbound lanes.
Police and fire and rescue crews used a cherry picker to dismantle the structure to get the woman down.
As a result, she was charged with using dangerous attachment device to interfere with transport infrastructure, contravenedirection, and pedestrian cause obstruction.
She will face Brisbane Magistrates Court on January 7.
The sign on the protesters tripod displayed read:’ Net Zero Emissions by 2025’.
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services had to dismantle the structure piece by piece using a cherry picker to get the woman down.
The woman was suspended in the air for more than two hours.
Diversions were put in place but heavy traffic impacting Coronation Drive and surrounding streets as well as the Riverside Expressway for almost three hours.
Extinction Rebellion spokesman Jarrah Kershaw said the protest was part of a series of rolling disruptions that would continuethrough to Christmas.
Mr Kershaw said the group was also planning a bike protest the day after the Queensland election, and a nationwide protest in December
“The traffic was blocked to get the tripod up, from what I understand,” Mr Kershaw said.
“I didn‘t choose the target road but we block major roads because it causes a lot of disruption and visibility (to our cause).’
He said they wanted zero emissions by 2025 to avert a “climate crisis” and wanted a citizen’s assembly formed to devise a plan to tackle emissions.
“The protests may cause disruption but are nowhere near as catastrophic as the bushfires that raced through regional areasin Victoria and NSW,” he said.
“The disruption we caused is insignificant to the bushfires last summer and it may put some people off but overwhelming peoplesupport what we are doing judging by polls.”
