Brisbane traffic: Protest blocks Brisbane CBD bridge
A Brisbane midwife has been slapped with more than $1000 in fines after blocking peak-hour traffic in a protest inspired by Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg.
QLD News
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A QUEENSLAND midwife has been slapped with more than $1000 in fines after blocking peak-hour traffic by suspending herself from a tripod on Brisbane’s Victoria Bridge.
Sophie Thompson, 22, was fined after refusing to sign a good behaviour bond for being a pedestrian causing obstruction to a roadway and obstructing police.
The woman with no criminal history pleaded guilty the charges and no evidence was offered by police to an additional offence of public nuisance.
The court heard the woman had suspended herself over the Victoria Bridge on a bamboo tripod at 7.45am today when many Brisbane residents were travelling to work.
Thompson affixed herself to an umbrella that read: “Climate denial is child abuse” before refusing to come down, despite being asked to by police officers.
One hour later she climbed down, but only because police were beginning to dismantle the structure, the court heard.
Magistrate Christine Roney told the woman, who quit her midwifery job in Rockhampton two weeks ago, less people were engaging with the climate cause because of the way protestors were going about it.
TRAFFIC: The Victoria Bridge is blocked in both directions due to protest activity. Delays are expected, use an alternative route where possible. #bnetraffic pic.twitter.com/j10nGpDMyU
— Queensland Police (@QldPolice) September 29, 2019
“I have said many times before in this setting... it’s called getting a permit,” she said.
“No one is disputing the right to protest... to inform people. It is the means by which it is being unlawfully done.”
Ms Roney said “some people are moving away” from the cause because of they way the protestors were going about things.
Thompson was fined $300 for obstructing a roadway and $750 for obstructing police.
A 28-year-old Brisbane man was also charged with one count of pedestrian causing an obstruction.
A 20-year-old NSW man and 22-year-old NSW woman have been charged with one count each of pedestrian causing a traffic hazard or obstruction by moving into path of a driver.
They are due to appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court on October 21.
Extinction Rebellion livestreamed the blockade from their Facebook page, showing police below setting up a device to bring Ms Thompson down.
In a statement earlier today, Ms Thompson said her protest was inspired by Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg.
“As a midwife, I cannot stand by as the government harms children by continuing to ignore the climate emergency,” Thompson said.
“Children in Australia and around the world are already dying in this emergency. Be it lack of drinking water in remote Aboriginal communities or food shortages in Sudan, children are the first victims of this crisis. We must act now, or the next generation of children will suffer a worse fate.”
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