Protesters target International Mining and Resources Conference in Melbourne
Police arrested 17 people and were forced to use capsicum spray at least four times in wild scenes outside a conference in Melbourne.
Protesters were “much more violent” on the second day of a Melbourne mining conference according to police who used capsicum spray at least four times on the crowd and arrested 17 people.
About 300 protesters attempted to blockade entrances to the International Mining and Resource conference on Wednesday, verbally abusing delegates and clashing with police.
Two protesters climbed up poles outside the building to display a banner before attempting to escape in the crowd.
One of the climbers managed to evade police while the other was carried off and charged with conduct endangering life, which carries a jail term of up to 10 years.
Two protesters glued themselves to the road while another woman cuffed her neck to a ramp.
The police used capsicum spray throughout the day on the protesters impacting dozens.
Among those affected was Melbourne University student Ailish Hallinan who was covering the protest for the university newspaper.
“I was just here to peacefully observe,” Ms Hallinan said. ”It truly just speaks to the levels of police brutality and violence. It felt like my whole face was on fire, I couldn’t see anything.”
Commander Libby Murphy said the police response to the protesters was “quite measured”.
“The protesters … actually we say turned much more violent and used different tactics,” she said. “Everything that the police are doing is predicated by the behaviour of the protesters.” Commander Murphy said the protesters turned down the police offer for medical aid after being sprayed.
“We’re trying to, on behalf of the community, allow people to go about their day-to-day business,” she said.
Two protesters managed to gain access to the conference itself, despite heavy security at the venue — including license and ID checks to gain entrance to the main hall.
It is understood the pair interrupted a presentation on social license to operate, and one woman accessed the stage before being removed by police.
The protester who made her way onto the stage glued her hand to the podium and chanted “land rights not mining rights”.
IMARC organisers thanked delegates for overcoming “unnecessary anti-social behaviour and taunts” to enter the conference.
“Security considerations have been important for each of the IMARC conferences and we do not condone the level of violence that we have seen in the past two days,” they said in a statement.
Out of the 250 mining companies represented in some way at the conference, only three thermal coal miners have speakers on its agenda - BHP, Yancoal and Glencore. And of the three, Yancoal is the only company whose Australian business is purely involved in the export of thermal coal.
When asked about the protest in parliamentary Question Time Premier Daniel Andrews said Victoria Police were “doing every one of us proud”.
“I reject the criticisms that we have seen in some quarters over the last 24 hours criticising Victoria Police,” he said.
Bob Brown sent a message of support to the protesters which was read to the crowd.
“Congratulations to the peaceful citizens standing against those profiting from the climate emergency and extinction crisis,” he said.
“I am appalled by the misuse of police and horses to assail peace defenders of the planet’s future. All strength.”
Retired public servant Margie Edwards had travelled from her home in the Hunter Valley to protest, having previously protested on social issues and concerned about the effects of coal mining she has witnessed first hand.
“We’ve been fighting for a long time,” she said.
Wearing a T-shirt with the slogan “Make our planet great again”, Ms Edwards said the way the world was embracing solar and other renewable energy sources showed it was possible to move away from coal.
Below, how the day of protests unfolded:
Tessa Akerman 5.15pm: Arrests follow ‘measured response’
Seventeen people have been arrested at the IMARC protest, including one protester who was charged with conduct endangering life after climbing up the convention centre facade to unfurl a banner.
Commander Libby Murphy said the police response to the protesters was “quite measured”.
“I would like to start off by actually thanking the Victoria Police members for their fine restraint in dealing with the protesters today who actually we say turned much more violent and used different tactics,” she said.
She said police were dealing with people who were “quite agitated” and committing serious offences.
Other charges laid include obstruction of roadways, obstruction of emergency services workers and covering the face while committing a criminal act.
During the day, police deployed capsicum spray several times on the crowd.
“Everything that the police are doing is predicated by the behaviour of the protesters,” Commander Murphy said.
“What I can say to you is that the protesters are committing criminal offences and the police are within their lawful powers to take the appropriate action to prevent those offences.”
Commander Murphy said the protesters turned down the police offer for medical aid after being sprayed.
“We’re trying to, on behalf of the community, allow people to go about their day-to-day business,” she said.
Nick Evans 3.08pm: Protester takes to stage
The day’s arrest tally is now believed to include two protesters who gained access to the conference itself, despite heavy security at the venue — including license and ID checks to gain entrance to the main hall.
It is understood the pair interrupted a presentation on social license to operate, and one woman accessed the stage before being removed by police.
The protester who made her way onto the stage glued her hand to the podium and chanted “land rights not mining rights”.
There are also reports another protester deployed a stink bomb inside Rio Tinto’s business lounge.
In a statement, IMRC organisers slammed protester violence outside its event, expressing their regret that “thousands of people in Melbourne” had been impacted by the demonstrations.
Organisers also thanked delegates for overcoming “unnecessary anti-social behaviour and taunts” to enter the conference.
“Security considerations have been important for each of the IMARC conferences and we do not condone the level of violence that we have seen in the past two days,” they said in a statement.
“Safety of our delegates and attendees will always be our first priority. We continue to take guidance and advice from the Victoria Police and other agencies to ensure those attending our conference can do so without being disrupted or subjected to violence.
“Our delegates have responded with respect, professionalism and restraint, under particularly trying circumstances. We thank them for upholding the integrity of the mining industry.
“We will continue to follow the advice of Victorian Police to maintain safe access to and from the conference.”
Rachel Baxendale 2.20pm: Daniel Andrews defends police
The issue of the anti-mining protesters has come up in state parliamentary Question Time, with Coalition Police spokesman David Southwick asking Premier Daniel Andrews what he intends to do about the “reputational damage” the “feral protesters” are causing to the state of Victoria.
Mr Andrews said Victoria Police were “down there now”.
“They are doing every one of us proud, and I reject the criticisms that we have seen in some quarters over the last 24 hours criticising Victoria Police,” he said.
“Victoria Police are making arrests. Victoria Police are making sure that order is brought back to that scene.
“I will always support the right of every Victorian, if they so choose, to peacefully protest, but there is a big difference between peaceful protests and what we saw yesterday and potentially today.”
Mr Andrews said he was thankful to every member of Victoria Police.
“And I say to them: be in no doubt; not only will we guarantee as a government the resources Victoria Police need, but we have a resolve to continue to support them in everything they need,” he said.
“We will not undermine the chief commissioner. We will not cut the budget of Victoria Police as others did, to their eternal shame. We will give Victoria Police the resources and the resolve that they need and deserve.”
Mr Southwick used a supplementary question to ask whether the Andrews government would reinstate “move on” laws they abolished in 2015.
Mr Andrews responded: “Far from moving people on, Victoria Police are arresting those people who need to be arrested, because they have every reason to suspect that they have broken the law.”
Tessa Akerman 1pm: More pepper spray, police push journalist
Police again pepper sprayed the protesters as they tried to shield the two climbers and allow them to escape police.
The two climbers unfurled a banner from the roof of the convention centre calling for IMARC to be blockaded.
When they made their way down a crowd gathered at the base of the pylons to provide cover and police surged around them and deployed pepper spray.
One climber managed to escape along the river while the other was dragged away by police.
Channel 7 journalist Paul Dowsley was repeatedly shoved by police as he tried to observe the scuffle. Makeshift medics are treating dozens who were sprayed with water and saline.
Vic police pushing journo â¦@pauldowsley7â© at #IMARCBlockade â¦@australianâ© pic.twitter.com/fJRPBo5YDi
— Tessa Akerman (@TessaAkerman) October 30, 2019
Tessa Akerman 12.45pm: Police arrest climber
Protesters have helped one of the climbers escape without being seen by police by his unfortunate fellow climber wasn’t so quick and was arrested.
Police carrying climber away after pulling him from crowd at #IMARCBlockade â¦@australianâ© pic.twitter.com/J4vqLwipDu
— Tessa Akerman (@TessaAkerman) October 30, 2019
Tessa Akerman 12.20pm: O’Brien defends police
Victorian Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien dismissed claims from the Greens that police had used “excessive force” against protesters.
“I back the police, and I support the police trying to make sure that these ferals can’t stop people going about their lawful business in this state,” Mr O’Brien said.
“For goodness sake, this is supposed to be an international conference showcasing Victoria, and instead all we see is a bunch of radical protesters physically assaulting people who are trying to go to this conference.
“The Victorian government is the sponsor of this conference, and they can’t even keep these people safe going to and from it. I absolutely back the police and I think the Greens need to pull their heads in.”
Tessa Akerman 12.05pm: Police arrest 12
Twelve people have been arrested this morning at the IMARC protest.
A police spokesman said the majority of offences relate to intentionally obstructing an emergency services worker.
Two protesters glued themselves to a car park access ramp and one woman ‘locked on’ to a hand rail within the disabled access ramp.
“Whilst we respect the rights of people to peacefully protest the unlawful action undertaken today is a drain on police resources from across greater Melbourne,” the spokesman said.
“The police operation is ongoing however, Victoria Police would like to state that any action taken by officers this morning has been in response to the protesters’ activity and in accordance with training.”
Tessa Akerman 11.55am: Protesters climb building
Two protesters are now climbing up the sides of the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.
The crowd is chanting “burn this conference to the ground”.
Police haven’t approached the climbers.
Tessa Akerman 11.30am: Third round of pepper spray
It’s the third round of capsicum spray today with at least half a dozen affected.
The police sprayed the crowd as they tried to move protesters off the road.
Organiser Jacob Andrewartha, 28, was near a barrier at the entrance and said police were pushing a group of marching protesters coming off the road.
“All of a sudden I saw a splash of pepper spray and it went into my left eye … I had to be dragged because I couldn’t see,” he said.
Andrewartha, who is a spokesman for the Blockade IMARC Alliance, said it was the second tome he’s been sprayed today as he was trying to defuse a situation and walk away.
“Every time I have been trying to escape being beaten up by police and I get pepper sprayed,” he said.
Vic police using pepper spray on protesters at #IMARCBlockade â¦@australianâ© pic.twitter.com/2pECjK8uSE
— Tessa Akerman (@TessaAkerman) October 30, 2019
Andrewartha described the police tactics as “brutal, repressive and completely undemocratic”.
“This has always been a peaceful and non violent protest … the violence has always been from police,” he said.
“ They’ll probably come in with even more heavy-handed tactics tomorrow.”
In spite of his pain Andrewartha said he will stay for the remainder of the protest and return tomorrow.
“I’m not going until it’s over,” he said.
“I think it’s been going well, a good group of people who are committed to fighting for a better world.”
Nick Evans 11.20am: Greener inside than out
The great irony of the protest at Melbourne’s IMARC conference is that there were probably more people on the podium talking about environmental, social and governance issues than there were chief executives spruiking new stockmarket floats and discoveries.
Absent the protesters, there would probably have been a bit of grumbling from some investors and company executives (and the odd business reporter) that the conference was a bit heavy on the social stuff and a bit light on the mining side of the industry.
Click here for the full story
Rachel Baxendale 11.10am: Police chief: officers behaved appropriately
Victorian Police Minister Lisa Neville has commended police for their conduct against anti-mining protesters as the Greens accused them of using “excessive force”.
Victorian Greens leader Samantha Ratnam sought to link police handling of the protest to a botched raid earlier this year which saw a man’s arm ripped from its socket in a case of mistaken identity.
State corruption watchdog IBAC is currently investigating police treatment of Nik imopoulos, who in May was severely injured when police stormed an apartment connected to a LGBTIQ bookshop in Fitzroy in pursuit of someone they described to local residents as an “armed member of a Lebanese gang”.
“I was at the Convention Centre yesterday to lend support to those protesters who are raising such an incredibly urgent concern about the fossil fuel industry,” Ms Ratnam said.
“When I was down there, the protesters do what protesters do, which is they’re vocal and they’re animated, but I didn’t see them being violent while I was there.
“What I did see, however, was what seemed like excessive force from the police. We saw horses being driven into people. I saw someone with a broken leg.
“We later saw footage of batons being used, and there are an increasing number of concerning reports about the force that the police use, and this comes at the back of a very worrying report at the weekend of excessive police force where (Mr Dimopoulos) was so significantly permanently harmed.”
Ms Neville commended police for their actions in controlling crowd behaviour during the current protest and Extinction Rebellion protests over recent weeks, drawing a distinction between the behaviour of participants in the more recent protests and those involved in the “school strike” climate change protest.
“Absolutely it is a right in Victoria to protest peacefully, and each and every year police would be managing hundreds of demonstrations, overwhelmingly peaceful demonstrations, and in fact we had 100,000 people demonstrate about climate change just before the footy final season. No arrests, no issues, no confrontations,” Ms Neville said.
“This is a group of people who are deliberately attempting to stop people going about their legal business and their day, and police, as the assistant commissioner said, are in the middle of this and they acted absolutely appropriately, used restraint in many occasions, arrested 50 people, suffered injuries themselves including a mounted branch police horse, and the behaviour we’re seeing from protesters is a deliberate attempt to disrupt Melbourne and to initiate this sort of confrontation.”
Ms Neville dismissed Ms Ratnam’s claims that the protesters had acted peacefully.
“In all the briefings I’ve had on this, that is not what occurred,” she said.
“People were blockading, they were absolutely blockading, stopping people from entering the Convention Centre for a legal conference, people going about their jobs and their businesses.”
Ms Neville rejected Ms Ratnam’s attempt to link Mr Dimopoulos’s treatment to that of the protesters.
“I could not more strongly reject that. That is absolutely not the case,” she said.
“(Police) use reasonable force, they are well-trained in this. They use force according to when that’s required.
“Victoria Police, we’ve got 17,000 sworn officers, 21,000 police personnel in Victoria. Each and every day they have 14,000 interactions with the Victorian public.
“Of that, the most you get a day is seven complaints, and since the rollout of body-worn cameras, and that will be completed in December, the figures on complaints are now negligible.
“There is not a culture of violence. There is not a culture of corruption. Police get up each day to protect Victorians and they overwhelmingly do that well, within the law and within their training.”
Tessa Akerman 10.45am: Protesters treated for pepper spray
Another half dozen people are being treated after police used capsicum spray at the protest.
Protesters being treated for capsicum spray #IMARC2019 â¦@australianâ© pic.twitter.com/TfhJLGGdaS
— Tessa Akerman (@TessaAkerman) October 29, 2019
Tessa Akerman 10.23am: Brown’s message of support
Bob Brown sent a message of support to the protesters last night which has been read to the crowd.
“Congratulations to the peaceful citizens standing against those profiting from the climate emergency and extinction crisis,” he said.
“I am appalled by the misuse of police and horses to assail peace defenders of the planets future. All strength.”
Tessa Akerman 10.15am: ‘Australia in flames’
Adam Bandt has shown up and addressed the protest about the drought.
“We are in the middle of a climate emergency,” he said.
“We have had parts of Australia burst into flames only a couple of weeks out of winter.”
He said without action a tipping point could be reached within a few years.
“We have got a few short years to get the climate crisis under control,” Bandt said.
“Coal is not compatible with a safe climate.”
Tessa Akerman 9.55am: Police deploy pepper spray
Police have now deployed pepper spray on the crowd including a group of student journalists from Melbourne University’s Farago.
Finley Tobin said he didn’t see the protesters doing anything untoward before the police started spraying OC.
He said about 10 people were affected including himself and some of his fellow students.
He said legal observers on site had told him protesters were only committing minor offences which didn’t warrant this response.
“I would see that really as a last resort for police,” he said. “I don’t see the need for it.”
Fellow student Ailish Hallinan said she was observing the protesters when a scuffle broke out with police.
“Who initiated it I don’t know,” she said.
She said she was about five metres away and tried to remove herself from the area when she felt burning and realised she had been sprayed.
“I was just here to peacefully observe,” Ms Hallinan said. ”It truly just speaks to the levels of police brutality and violence.
“It felt like my whole face was on fire, I couldn’t see anything.”
A first aid station nearby doused her in water and gave her a new shirt.
Quite a few protesters #IMARC2019 wearing face masks after police used capsicum spray earlier today and yesterday â¦@australianâ© pic.twitter.com/bgoK1LOBON
— Tessa Akerman (@TessaAkerman) October 29, 2019
Tessa Akerman 9.45am: Activists block delegates
Climate activists are linking arms to prevent delegates entering a mining conference in Melbourne, just a day after tense clashes between protesters and police.
Protesters have today resumed their position outside the International Mining and Resources Conference at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, blocking traffic along Clarendon St with scuffles already breaking out.
Police herding protesters outside #IMARC2019 â¦@australianâ© pic.twitter.com/ZPuWCJL3TH
— Tessa Akerman (@TessaAkerman) October 29, 2019
Cars and pedestrians were for a time blocked from crossing the Yarra as protesters chant: “The people are rising, no more compromising.”
Police have since cleared the road.
Mounted police have returned to the scene after two people were yesterday arrested for allegedly slapping a horse, while a protester was taken to hospital after she was kicked or trampled.
Many protesters are wearing bandannas or face masks to hide their identities or protect against capsicum spray, which was deployed yesterday.
Victoria Police have sent media an email warning of potential use of capsicum spray and risk of injury.
“The nature of the protest and police response is becoming very dynamic and the boundaries of police/protester activity is constantly moving,” the spokesman said.
One protester who has a bandana across her nose and mouth has just put on swimming goggles.
Protesters are shouting “corporate scum” in the faces of delegates as they arrive.
As the crowd rotates through the chants, a popular one urges “burn the rich”.
“We’re out on strike today to challenge the elite,” protesters chanted.
“This is a global movement from Melbourne to Chile.”
Tessa Akerman 9.35am: ‘No fear of arrest’
Seventy-year-old protester Karen said she didn’t care if she was arrested at the protest today or tomorrow.
“I’m here because I’m a grandmother and I don’t want the future that’s looking so grim for my children,” she said.
Karen said her generation treated the earth “shithouse” but argued technology now made it easier to expose the actions of big companies.
“You can find things out but they’re getting sneakier and sneakier,” she said.
Karen said she was nearly knocked over by the police today but she was determined to stay and help get the message across.
“People can’t be bothered [to take action],” she said.
“I’ve got friends and they think I’m nuts.
“If you don’t [do something], nothing will change. I still can’t believe they’re building the Adani mine.”
Karen said politicians were “evil and complicit” in the damage done by mining and were “all just controlled by the money”.
Greens MP Adam Bandt, who is due to address the crowd today, said he believed the police response had been “pretty heavy-handed” for people standing up for climate change.
“The bottom line is, no matter what the police do, you cannot arrest your way out of global warming,” he said on 3AW.
It comes after almost 50 people were arrested on Tuesday, and a protester and two officers were taken to hospital after being injured.
Protesters claimed officers had been hostile towards them, but Victoria Police said they had shown discretion and tolerance in their handling of the demonstration.
Conference organisers insisted it was “business as usual” and that the protests had failed to disrupt the meeting — attended by 7000 delegates. Delegates heard about commitments within the industry to prioritise ethical sourcing and meet climate change goals, organisers said, having accused protesters of being misdirected in targeting the conference.
Horses in action again as police try to break the protester line @sunriseon7 pic.twitter.com/B52m19jFU2
— Nathan Templeton (@nathantemp7) October 28, 2019
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack condemned the protesters as “absolutely disgraceful”.
He told ABC News: “Mining and resources provides a lot of money, particularly for the welfare payments that a lot of those people are no doubt on.”
🤜IT’S ON🤛 come and link arms with us all today as we stand up against the climate criminals trashing this planet for their own greed. We’ll be back at MCEC today from 6am - it’s so important to be there from the beginning, as the point of our blockade is to shut down IMARC! pic.twitter.com/iVvzWJcHKA
— BLOCKADE IMARC OCTOBER 28 (@blockadeIMARC19) October 29, 2019
— with AAP