Extinction Rebellion: Activist using lock-on device at Brisbane intersection
Serial protester Eric Herbert, who has been arrested 11 times and banned from Brisbane’s CBD, will again spend the night in custody after he was cut from a car after a three-hour stand-off near the Tower of Power.
QLD News
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SERIAL protester Eric Herbert, who has previously been banned from Brisbane’s CBD, has been taken into custody after he was cut from a car after a more than three-hour protest near the Tower of Power.
Herbert and another man who was locked onto the car, will spend the night in the Brisbane Watchhouse, after they were arrested too late to be processed and appear before a magistrate.
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Herbert, who has now been arrested 11 times, has said the group would keep protesting at 1 William St until the “government acts”.
“I don’t want to be here but the situation is we’re looking at mass starvation in 10 years, so yes I’m scared but I’m also scared of billions of people migrating and ecological and societal collapse,” he said.
“We are non violent protesters doing what is necessary.
“It’s not something we want to do, it’s simply something we have to do.”
#BREAKING @ExtinctionR protester Eric Herbert remains locked to a car on William St in Brisbane saying he is "terrified" and will "probably be in prison next week". He has been here over three hours @couriermail #Brisbane pic.twitter.com/2U1Q6QqtuB
— Cloe Read (@cloe_read) October 10, 2019
When asked about the waste of police resources, Herbert answered the police were “under discretion to use their resources in whatever way possible”.
“We understand they have a budget, we have asked them to let us stay here and we are happy to do that,” he said.
“We have more demands and the rebellion won’t stop.
“I’ll be in the watch house and then in court talking to the magistrate about why I did what I did and possibly being sent to prison.”
Herbert was arrested after he attached himself to a station wagon with a ‘rebel for life’ decal on the side.
However, he has since breached that condition and was ordered to do community service.
It came after as many as nine protesters locked themselves to a pink catamaran at a nearby intersection.
They disrupted traffic during peak hour at the intersection of George and Elizabeth streets, with lock-on devices used to keep police at bay.
The protesters and the boat have since been cleared from the intersection. All were taken into custody.
There was a heavy police presence in the area and it did cause congestion for motorists, with commuters travelling inbound from the south warned to exit from the Riverside Expressway at Turbot or Margaret streets.
There was heavy congestion on the Southeast Freeway back to Upper Mount Gravatt, with a number of bus services also affected.
Police earlier advised of additional protest activity at South Bank, at the intersection of Grey and Russell streets.
It is the fourth day of protests by the activists, with dozens arrested so far, and more to come tomorrow.
Peter Dutton said the only way to stop the “fringe dwellers” of the Extinction Rebellion causing havoc was to charge them for the police response and lock them up if they don’t pay.
The Home Affairs Minister said the “anarchists” were thumbing their nose at taxpayers so should be forced to foot a bill of up to $40,000 to cover the police intervention.
“These people are anarchists and fringe-dwellers and they should be feeling the full force of the law instead of the wet lettuce that’s being thrown at them by Annastacia Palaszczuk at the moment,” he told 2GB radio this morning.
Transdev buses travelling inbound are on a local diversion and will not be servicing Elizabeth Street, Brisbane City due to a protest rally. Customers will now be set down in Margaret Street.https://t.co/Wq21RDofAu #TLAlert #TL200s pic.twitter.com/baf475NHpM
— TransLink (@TransLinkSEQ) October 9, 2019
On Tuesday, a man suspended himself from the Story Bridge for several hours, while yesterday another protester blocked train lines for a short period.
Ms Palaszczuk said she was not worried if it was a “bad look”, insisting critics would have the opportunity to have their say.
“The use of these dangerous devices is not acceptable,” she said.
Activists have warned that the William Jolly Bridge will be a key focus of their protests tomorrow morning.
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