Rebel rabble causing Mondayitis for Adelaide cafe and clients

It is now 16 months since climate activists began a weekly protest at Santos’s Adelaide headquarters, harassing staff and causing damage. The biggest impact has been on the poor cafe owner in the foyer.

Frustrated Bluprint Cafe owner Frankie Marafiote. Picture Matt Turner.

It is now 16 months since an innocent Adelaide cafe in the foyer of the Santos headquarters became the venue for a weekly protest by climate activists that is driving its customers away.

On May 18 last year Bluprint Cafe was daubed with graffiti, and SA police trying to protect it were attacked with paint, amid a day of action by the extreme climate change group Extinction Rebellion (XR).

Since then, the XR “rebels”, as they call themselves, have returned every Monday, using the Santos foyer adjoining the cafe to stage sit-ins, perform street theatre and harangue Santos staff as they go about their work.

The sum total of this civil disobedience is that Bluprint owner Frankie Marafiote has lost thousands of dollars as customers have resolved to stay away on Mondays to avoid the mayhem, with the front entrance to his cafe closed as the protest is staged.

Customers can only enter via a side door, and Santos workers have been told to avoid the foyer completely during that time as XR rebels have on multiple occasions confronted them demanding to know how they can work for the company.

The harassment has continued despite the fact Bluprint Cafe has no association with Santos at all but is merely located in the foyer of its Flinders St headquarters just off Victoria Square in the Adelaide CBD.

On other days the cafe attracts hundreds of customers from neighbouring city offices, but businesses including major banks have emailed staff telling them to avoid it on Mondays due to XR’s presence.

Mr Marafiote told The Weekend Australian he has tried to explain to the protesters that he has nothing to do with Santos but their response has been that the inconvenience is nothing compared to the climate emergency facing the planet.

“We have dealt with this from day one,” Mr Marafiote said.

“We lose between 20 and 40 per cent of our customers during that hour and a half when they are here. They say they are trying to be as polite as they possibly can by giving us back our lunch trade but we definitely have people who hold back or don’t come. Other companies have told their staff in emails … not to come here during that hour.”

Aside from the regular Monday protests Bluprint has also been affected by other one-off demonstrations such as last month’s day of action against the ANZ, Westpac and NAB for lending money to Santos.

Protesters targeted all three banks in the CBD before heading to Santos and crowding the forecourt, driving customers away from Bluprint again.

This week there was another one-off protest when a group of so-called “Climate Grandparents” riding their bikes from Perth to Canberra converged on Santos “to expose the travesty of the Australian gas industry”.

Extinction Rebellion protesters draw police attention outside the Bluprint Cafe.

Mr Marafiote is a reasonable man who defends the right to protest but says he can’t understand why the protesters are indifferent to the impact on his operations.

“The hardest part is that we are in a really tough time economically,” he said.

“We just keep fronting up and trying to maintain our best standards of service and quality. But with all this we feel like we are trying really hard to keep progressing, but you get hit with these challenges by people who, frankly, are just inconsiderate.”

Mr Marafiote met recently with Premier Peter Malinauskas, who told The Weekend Australian he shared the cafe’s concerns about the impact the protest was having on its business.

Mr Malinauskas was slated by unions and environmental groups last year when he toughened penalties for major disruptive protests after the May 18 Extinction Rebellion incidents, when Adelaide ground to a halt after a protester blocked North Terrace by abseiling off the Morphett St Bridge.

“I think some of Extinction Rebellion’s behaviour undermines the cause of decarbonisation rather than enhances it,” Mr Malinauskas told The Weekend Australian.

“Last year we imposed harsh fines for obstructing a public place – in direct response to the behaviour of some protesters who were causing massive disruption to everyday South Australians simply trying to get to work and earn a living.

“I do sympathise with workers at Frankie’s business. We ask the protesters to be respectful and mindful that while they have the right to protest, other South Australians have a right to do their jobs.”

‘I think some of Extinction Rebellion’s behaviour undermines the cause of decarbonisation rather than enhances it,’ says SA Premier Peter Malinauskas.

Mr Marafiote questioned whether the ongoing XR presence was achieving anything other than to annoy people and drive customers away.

“Extinction Rebellion protesters should also familiarise themselves with the fact that when they argue against gas, in the real world they get more coal.”

Extinction Rebellion spokeswoman Anna Slynn downplayed the impact of the protests on the cafe and said they would continue to target Santos.

“The fortnightly protests go for one hour, are peaceful, non-violent and have incurred no arrests,” Ms Slynn said. “Unfortunately, Bluprint Cafe shares part of the ground floor of the Santos building. However, the protesters typically avoid proximity to the cafe, and there is a public entrance from the street to the cafe which has never been blocked by the protests.

“The protesters are friendly and polite and willing to engage. The cafe next door to the building on the other side has been welcoming to the protesters, who therefore choose to lunch there after each protest.”

Mr Marafiote rejected Ms Slynn’s assessment and questioned whether the ongoing XR presence was achieving anything other than to annoy people and drive customers away.

“We need to come to some sort of understanding as to how we are going to manage this going forward because we are not getting anywhere,” he said.

“The whole situation is not changing. They aren’t getting their message across. Maybe they think they are, I don’t know. In my opinion it’s not getting across so maybe they need to take a new tack. It’s rubbing people up the wrong way.”