Caleb Bond: A message needs to be sent that this form of protest goes beyond anything that is reasonable

Extinction Rebellion types have probably done more to needlessly increase emissions than most mining companies, writes Caleb Bond.

The morons who keep super gluing themselves to the road in the name of the planet ought to have the book thrown at them.

There they – a group of grey-haired climate protesters – were on Wednesday morning, blocking traffic on King William St by affixing themselves to the bitumen.

Meanwhile, people who just wanted to get to work and earn an honest dollar, unlike this lot, piled up behind them in cars.

Cars that sat there spewing out emissions – unnecessarily polluting the air of passers-by, pumping the world full of carbon dioxide and unproductively wasting fossil fuels.

So much for helping the planet.

Extinction Rebellion types have probably done more to needlessly increase emissions than most mining companies.

They call themselves Extinction Rebellion – supposedly because they’re worried about the extinction of the human race if the planet warms up a little bit.

I have no issue with someone wanting to exercise their right to protest.

Schoolchildren on the climate bandwagon successfully hold their climate rallies, which are either done in Victoria Square or go down King William St.

Police use Acetone to extract Extinction Rebellion protesters from King William St in Victoria Square. Picture: Brenton Edwards

They’re civil, they’re fine, and if they march down the street, they disrupt traffic for 10 minutes and everyone moves on. Unlike this week’s wallies, who held up the road for about three hours.

It was amusing, even if slightly annoying, when Extinction Rebellion went on a protest through the city in March during afternoon peak hour, shutting down intersections so they could dance to the Bee Gees’ Stayin’ Alive.

But at least they moved on after a few minutes and only one idiot, from what I observed, had to be dragged from an intersection when a fire truck needed to come through.

But that opportunity doesn’t exist when people are glued to the road.

It is only a matter of time until an ambulance or a fire truck gets held up by these people and someone dies.

They’re already doing it in the UK.

An environmental (emphasis on the “mental”) mob called Insulate Britain have deployed similar tactics, including gluing themselves to the road.

Ambulances have this month been photographed stuck in the middle of these protests.

Even worse, the leader of this mob, Roger Hallam, said he would block an ambulance that was taking a critically ill patient to hospital.

He’d risk their death for his silly little protest.

Two people, Ian Fox and Ngoc Nguyen, escaped conviction for scaling the Santos building earlier this year.

Four other women were only charged with loitering for gluing themselves to the road.

Eight people have been arrested and charged this time and they will have to face court. They should have the book thrown at them.

A message needs to be sent that this form of protest goes beyond anything that is reasonable and could seriously endanger people’s lives.

Do we actually have to wait until an ambulance is held up and someone dies before we take this seriously?

It’s not just making a harmless point.

And these people have proven that they have no intention of stopping.

We shouldn’t give them any choice in the matter.

Originally published as Caleb Bond: A message needs to be sent that this form of protest goes beyond anything that is reasonable