Extinction Rebellion activists released on bail after Supreme Court application

Three climate activists, who seasoned lawyers claim were incarcerated for “political” reasons, have sensationally been released on bail after a last-ditch application to the Supreme Court.

Extinction Rebellion protesters with banners on train. Picture: Supplied

CLIMATE protesters arrested for blocking a coal train heading to Brisbane have been sensationally released after a last-ditch Supreme Court bail application was made to free the group.
Three activists were on Tuesday remanded in custody after being denied bail by a Cleveland Magistrate after what criminal lawyers have described as a “political” move.

Extinction Rebellion protesters Jack Oswald, Ryan “Spoons” Mitchell and serial climate activist Emma Dorge were charged with a range of offences arising from blocking the train at Lytton, which was en route to Port of Brisbane earlier this week.
The two men had allegedly climbed into a carriage and staged a sit-in for almost three hours before being removed by police on Tuesday.

Extinction Rebellion on Tuesday stopped this coal from entering Brisbane after two activists allegedly climbed atop the trains. Picture: supplied.

Their arrests come as tensions rise between Extinction Rebellion and police with the group earlier this week deeming the bail refusals a “warning sign of an increasingly totalitarian regimen that is taking unprecedented measures to silence opposition”.

It also caused mass protests outside the Brisbane Watchhouse and even saw celebrities including singer and former Australian Idol contestant Lisa Mitchell and Australian actor and model Isabel Lucas calling for their release on social media.

Mitchell and Oswald were charged with obstructing a police officer by failing to get off the coal train.

They were originally charged with trespassing on a railway but this charge was later upgraded to obstructing a railway – which carries a maximum penalty of two years’ jail.

Dorge was charged with trespassing on a railway and obstructing a railway.

Oswald, who had no criminal history, and Mitchell, who had previously only been charged with one offence of contravening a police direction were sent to Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre before being released on Friday.
Dorge, who has previously been fined for protesting as part of Extinction Rebellion, was also placed behind bars, on remand, on Tuesday.

Brittany White, of Fuller and White Solicitors, who appeared pro bono in the Supreme Court for the group during the urgent bail application hear late on Friday said the fact they were denied bail in the magistrates court with such little criminal history was “highly unusual”.

Emma Dorge earlier this year. Picture: AAP image/John Gass

Other criminal lawyers also told The Sunday Mail the move to remand the group in custody was “political” and criminals charged more serious offences including rape and sexual assaults were routinely given bail.

“If they were charged with offences that didn’t have the Extinction Rebellion aspect but comprised of similar conduct, result of the (original) bail application would likely have been different,” Ms White said in court on Friday.

Shortly after the group was arrested and remanded in custody, Australian singer Lisa Mitchell posted on her Instagram of 30,000 fans that “police-enforced government crackdowns were continuing” in Queensland and the protesters had been incarcerated “without a fair hearing for blocking a coal train”.

“I think civil disobedience is a normal thing to do when a government is not acting inline (sic) with the wishes of the people,” she wrote.

In the comments, celebrity environmental activist, model and actor Isabel Lucas wrote “I agree”.

Outside court, Ms White said “courts and the government should not bow under the pressure of the issues of the day to treat persons differently than other defendants before the court”.

Police at the coal train site on Tuesday.

She said none of the protesters were in a “show cause position” when they came before the court in Cleveland and defendants in this circumstance would usually be granted bail.

“I don’t think these sort of offences should be treated differently and these people should be treated with the applicable law,” she told The Sunday Mail.

Supreme Court judge David Boddice agreed, releasing the group on bail on Friday on the condition they have no contact with each other.

Mitchell was also required to move from his home address by Wednesday as he is allegedly living at a property believed to be Extinction Rebellion’s headquarters.

The group will return to court on December 19.