Jack Oswald, Isabel Sleiman fined for obstructing traffic during Blockade Australia climate protest
A Sydney woman and Newcastle man were slapped with fines for their role in “unlawful” climate protests that effectively shut down the city during morning peak hour.
Central Sydney
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“Erratic and volatile” behaviour by a group of protesters corralled by Blockade Australia caused 45 minutes of chaos on city streets, a court has heard.
Jack Matthew Oswald, 26, and Isabel Sleiman, 23, were sentenced for obstructing the path of drivers and pedestrians at Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday.
Oswald and Sleiman entered guilty pleas at an earlier occasion.
The pair were among a group of protesters sentenced at Downing Centre Local Court with Samuel Clarke, Jemika Lancaster, Anthony Gleeson, Alistair Ferguson, Jarrad Holinger, Barney Jackson, Su-Min Lim, and Mgoc Mai Nguyen sentenced. They appeared in the court via video link.
The court heard Oswald helped other protesters move a street sign from the footpath onto the roadway, moved a large barricade onto the road and took two metal barricades onto the roadway to obstruct traffic on Macquarie St.
Sleiman – who the court heard was identified when the media published images of the protest – was arrested after police observed her weaving through the crowd, running in front of cars, and extending her arms to stop an officer on his motorcycle as a form of noncompliance.
Beginning about 8am on June 27, the protest shut down several CBD roads near the Sydney Harbour Bridge, causing traffic chaos for around 45 minutes as between 100 and 150 protesters moved through busy commuter streets.
The group’s lawyer Mark Davis said while environmental activist group Blockade Australia had widely advertised the event online, the court could not assume every attendee was a member of the climate action group, or that they were aware they would be attending an “unlawful” protest.
Agreed police facts state Oswald was identified as a member of Blockade Australia.
Mr Davis said Sleiman, who the court heard volunteers for numerous animal protection groups, had “briefly” put up her arms in front of “a burly member of the highway control” and had been arrested for what was “ultimately a fine charge”.
He argued the court should account for Sleiman’s lengthy detention of 36 hours following her arrest, which led her to become “emotional, exhausted and distressed”.
He argued her bail conditions – that forbid her to enter the Sydney CBD and included the prohibition of encrypted apps like WhatsApp on her mobile were “severe” and meant she had been “denied her own city”.
“This woman has had the most harsh conditions on bail, under the most harsh conditions imaginable,” Mr Davis said. .
Mr Davis asked that Oswald, who works with charities based in his hometown of Newcastle, be fined a small amount.
The police prosecutor told the court the matters were “not trivial” as the collective protest had essentially “shut down the CBD at peak hour”, with a significant impact on the community, including commuters seeking to drive into the city.
Agreed police facts state the actions of the group caused a “significant disruption” to peak-hour traffic across a wide area of the CBD, causing police to close roads, redirect traffic and deploy an “exorbitant” amount of police resources and time to respond.
Magistrate Haskett convicted Sleiman and fined her $100. Oswald was also convicted, and fined $600.
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