Serial protest pests appeal jail sentence for blocking West Gate Bridge
Chief Commissioner Shane Patton has hit out at the “selfish, entitled” climate protesters and explained why it took so long for officers to clear their blockade.
Police & Courts
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Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton slammed the West Gate activists and warned against a repeat in looming protests.
Mr Patton described the actions of those on the bridge as “selfish, entitled, arrogant”.
“The lack of thought for other people was terrible,” he said on radio station 3AW on Wednesday.
Mr Patton said those planning to be involved in upcoming protest events could expect police to act quickly if they behaved similarly.
“You can expect a very swift, a very stern response from Victoria Police,” he said.
Mr Patton said there were reasons for the delays in getting the protesters down and clearing the traffic on the West Gate.
While he would have loved to have dragged them off the truck’s roof, there were other factors at play.
Mr Patton said the activists were owed a duty of care and there were occupational health and safety considerations for his officers working at height.
He said the protesters were “locked onto materials” and there was also a risk the roof coull give way under the weight of more people.
“This was a really complex and difficult situation,” he said.
Meanwhile, two Extinction Rebellion protesters jailed for causing gridlock chaos by blocking the West Gate Bridge with a truck are now appealing their three-week prison sentences.
Serial pests Deanne “Violet” Coco, 33, and Bradley Homewood, 51, lodged bids for freedom in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, just one day into their jailhouse stint.
The pair both asked for bail pending an appeal of their sentences, handed down just hours earlier in a late night court hearing on Tuesday.
Both acting as their own lawyer — as they had the night before — neither was granted their wish and will be forced to remain behind bars pending any future appeal in a higher court.
The Herald Sun understands that Coco withdrew her application for release at the last minute, while Homewood’s bid for appeal bail was refused on the basis he was an “unacceptable risk”.
The duo have both been listed for an appeal hearing in the County Court on March 19.
By that time, they’ll have just one week left to go of their 21 day prison sentences.
The sentences follow three Extinction Rebellion protesters parking a rental truck across three city-bound lanes of the West Gate Bridge during peak hour traffic on Tuesday morning, sparking traffic chaos.
Magistrate Andrew McKenna denounced Coco’s conduct during a late-night hearing saying she had put her own cause and interests above the community.
“No punishment short of imprisonment is appropriate in my view,” he told the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court.
Wearing a black Extinction Rebellion T-shirt with the group’s emblem in yellow on the front, Coco, from New South Wales, pleaded guilty to public nuisance and obstructing police.
She represented herself from the court dock where she apologised for her actions but said she had been forced to act due to the “dire” climate crisis.
The sentence means Coco will spend another stint behind bars having previously been given a 15-month sentence jail sentence with a non-parole period of eight months in December 2022 after using a truck to block a lane of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
She became the first person in New South Wales to be locked up under that state’s harsher protest laws but her sentence was overturned in March last year.
Her co-accused Bradley Homewood, 51, from Williamstown in Melbourne, was also handed a three-week jail term after pleading guilty to the same charges.
Mr McKenna noted Homewood had been fined last year for similar conduct and said a warning needed to be sent to other would-be offenders.
“He has shown no remorse at all … it was not justified, not in any sense,” he said.
Mr Homewood’s X account describes him as a “climate and ecological activist and organiser rebelling on stolen land”.
He has previously been involved in protests with anti-coal group Blockade Australia, suspending himself from a pole to interrupt operations at Port Melbourne in June last year.
That action was part of co-ordinated protests which also targeted Port of Newcastle in New South Wales and Port of Brisbane.
A third man Joseph Zammit, 68, from Burnside Heights, told the court he was providing “a service to the community” and police were to blame for the bridge’s closure as they had shut the remaining lanes during the 2½ hour protest.
“There were two lanes left to allow traffic,” he said.
“(The) West Gate Bridge came to a standstill but only after the police arrived.”
Mr Zammit also took issue with police claims the protest had caused “catastrophic” delays which had obstructed emergency vehicles.
“We are actually doing a service to the community, we are ringing the alarm bells,” he said.
“For us to play by the rules is really not getting us very far so we have to push the envelope to get the attention of the government for what we see as a crisis.”
Mr Zammit’s case was adjourned to April 16 and he was granted bail on the condition he not attend any protests or engage in any unlawful conduct at protests.
Police prosecutor Geoff Adams told the court he could not provide a “specific example” of an emergency vehicle being impacted but there would have been triple-0 calls during the protest and that evidence could be obtained to support the claims.
“The ramifications caused a massive and catastrophic delay to thousands of the members of the public,” he said.
“We will always support people lawfully demonstrating, (but) his actions today are definitely unlawful.”
The group sparked traffic chaos early Tuesday morning after parking a rental truck across three city-bound lanes of the West Gate Bridge.
They then climbed onto the roof of the truck and unfurled a banner which read: “Climate breakdown has begun”.
As peak-hour traffic banked up, at 8am police shut down a fourth lane as they used a cherry picker to remove the activists.
By the time all lanes reopened at 10:15am, the traffic jams stretched along 25km of the West Gate Freeway and Princess Freeway with cars at a standstill as far back as Point Cook Rd.
The Deer Park Bypass on the M80 Ring Road was also affected, along with surrounding streets across the inner west.
Drivers vented their anger at the protesters, with the group’s Facebook livestream showing yells and horns blaring at the trio.
People took to social media to share their frustration from their interrupted morning commute.
“Welcome to Melbourne where people parking a truck across 3 lanes on the West Gate Bridge is a good way to send a message,” one poster said.
Another said it was “callous” of protesters to not think of ambulances, commuters or schoolchildren before beginning their roadblock.
“Seriously, find another way to protest, doing stuff like this is only going to make people angry at you rather then making people hear your side of the story,” one woman wrote.
Welcome to Melbourne, where people think parking a truck across 3 lanes on the west gate bridge is a good way to send a message 😤 pic.twitter.com/iA6ykioKyN
— Ardapt (@ArdaptOCE) March 4, 2024
The disruption came as the second day of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit got underway in Melbourne, with Extinction Rebellion calling on the international union to declare a climate emergency.
Victoria Minister for Police Anthony Carbines branded the protesters “idiots”.
“The behaviour that we saw this morning from a small number of idiots was completely unacceptable,” he said.
“It is clear that these individuals would like to cause mass disruptions which can put the safety of both themselves and others in the community at risk and we thank Victoria Police for taking appropriate action at this morning’s incident.”
He also denied police could have acted faster to remove protesters, saying the situation was “dangerous and challenging”.
“Protesters were making a point of being in a complex location,” he said.
“It was always going to be very challenging and difficult for the police to remove them.
“That’s part of the tactics that they employ, the despicable tactics that they employ.”
Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chief Executive Paul Guerra said the state’s businesses were already facing enough challenges and did not need activists deterring further investment.
“We respect people’s right to protest, however anytime a person is unable to get to work, school or a medical appointment there is a cost, some financial, others more serious,” he said.
“This protest caused significant disruption today, and that’s far from respectful.
“Businesses already face enough barriers attracting people to the city without these kinds of disruptions.”
Greens MP for Melbourne Ellen Sandell praised the activists for the disruptive protest, calling them “courageous” and “brave”.
“I think that the people who stood up yesterday and sounded the alarm on the West Gate Bridge for climate action are courageous,” she said.
“It’s frustrating to have your day disrupted like that. But look at the disruption that’s been caused by climate change.”
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