Climate protest sparks major commuter chaos on busy Melbourne freeway

Thousands of commuters are furious after a group of climate protesters blocked off a busy freeway in Melbourne’s eastern suburb, causing massive delays.

A commuter has snapped at climate protesters by ripping a banner out of their hands after they caused traffic chaos a major Melbourne freeway.

A group of about 30 demonstrators stationed themselves at the CityLink overpass, one of the city’s biggest thoroughfares, disrupting drivers between South Yarra and the southeastern Freeway overpass on Thursday morning, causing delays of up to 30 minutes.

Extinction Rebellion hold a "slow march" protest rally on an arterial road during peak our in Melbourne.

Extinction Rebellion have labelled COP29 a “greenwashing exercise”.

The demonstrators were seen holding banners and large signs, protesting this year’s climate summit, COP29, which is currently taking place in Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan.

The protest group, Extinction Rebellion, has referred to the COP29 event as a “greenwashing exercise that provides a giant distraction and little outcome”.

The protest has caused major chaos for commuters on the roads this morning, with one angry person getting out of their car near the Alexandra Ave intersection and ripping a banner out of the hands of the demonstrators.

The protest has caused major chaos on the busy Melbourne overpass.

One angry driver got out of the car and ripped the protester’s sign.

Another driver, who was rushing to an 8.30am exam, told 7News reporters they were understanding of the protester’s sentiments, though they weren’t a fan of the execution.

“I get it, it’s important,” the driver said.

“But surely there is 10 times better ways that you can do it than p***ing people off.”

The protesters have since been moved off the road, allowing traffic to return to normal.

Originally published as Climate protest sparks major commuter chaos on busy Melbourne freeway