Protesters bring Sydney peak-hour traffic to standstill

A group of protesters have caused a second day of traffic mayhem in Sydney in a dangerous stunt to draw attention to environmental issues.

Motorists using the Sydney Harbour Bridge to get to work have faced another long commute on Thursday as protesters have halted traffic in southbound lanes of the Western Distributor.

Traffic coming off the Harbour Bridge came to a complete standstill and backed up as far as the Lane Cove Tunnel.

The Daily Telegraph reported that two members of the climate action group climbed over road barricades and walked onto the major road at the base of a hill where cars approach at speeds of up to 70km/hr.

Traffic banked up on the Sydney Harbour Bridge after protesters blocked a major road. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Seb Haggett

The two protesters managed to cause a mighty disruption to commuters, with major delays from 7.30am causing traffic to bank up for 2.5 kilometres.

Police arrived just after 8am and ‘”dragged” the protesters off the road, according to eyewitnesses that called into 2GB radio.

The protesters were representing environmental activism group Fireproof Australia, calling for the federal government to take immediate action to rehome survivors of the northern NSW flood crisis.

Fireproof Australia was responsible for traffic shutdowns on the Mosman Spit Bridge in February and last week, sister group FloodProof shut down King St in Newtown.

#SATnews#FloodproofAustralia#Lismore#FireFloodSmoke#FireproofAustralia@shrimanji@manbirkohli@PradeepKTaneja@joshioz@HumanismProject
Harbour Bridge, Sydney, Australia blockaded* as citizens demand rehoming of flood survivors pic.twitter.com/jYNJqNOxih

— South Asia Times (@southasiatimes) March 9, 2022

Originally published as Protesters bring Sydney peak-hour traffic to standstill