Extinction Rebellion climate protesters shut down a major intersection in the Melbourne CBD during peak hour on Thursday.
Up to 100 protesters took part in the protest and were met with a strong police presence, Nine News reports.
They group took over the intersection of Latrobe Street and Queen Street at around 8am, blocking traffic for 20 minutes, before moving down Latrobe Street.
Extinction Rebellion stops traffic in the city this morning Picture: David Geraghty
The activist group said the “colourful and dramatic protest” would be the first of three days it planned to create disruptions in the heart of the city, after blocking a major freeway exit during peak hour on Tuesday.
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Chaos continues to unfold in Melbourne this morning, as climate protestors take to the streets.
At least 102 climate activists from seventeen countries representing Greenpeace, Stay Grounded, Extinction Rebellion, Scientist Rebellion and other climate justice groups are still being detained in Geneva, Switzerland 20 hours after a peaceful protest against Europe’s largest annual private jet fair, the European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva.
“A unique, European coalition of courageous activists from 17 countries severely disrupted the excessive champagne party of a super-rich elite – Europe’s largest private jet sales event. Their demand is unequivocal, private aviation should be consigned to the history books. We support the activists and demand their immediate release.” – said Klara Maria Schenk, a transport expert for the European Mobility For All campaign.
Activists peacefully occupied jets exhibited at the business event by the Geneva airport and chained themselves to aircraft gangways in order to keep prospective buyers from entering. The protestors held giant tobacco-style health warning label hand banners marking the jets as toxic objects and warning that ‘Private Jets Burn Our Future’, ‘Kill Our Planet’, and ‘Fuel Inequality’. Public service announcements from loudspeakers carried by the activists exposed the devastating consequences of private jets for our planet and revealed the hypocrisy of promoting private jets amidst rising social inequality.
Contrary to several misleading media reports, the activists never entered the taxiways or runways of the airport. The activists make it clear that at no time they intended to disrupt commercial air traffic at Geneva Airport. A spokeswoman for air traffic control agency Skyguide confirmed protestors had not accessed the runway during the incident, according to Aviation International News.
🚨URGENT: We are extremely concerned about the reports of excessive use of force against the climate activists at #EBACE2023 Europe’s largest private jet fair. We demand the immediate release of the 100 detained activists. Updates to come. #BanPrivateJetshttps://t.co/2XTJhImYsypic.twitter.com/Ytf861IAG2
— Greenpeace International (@Greenpeace) May 23, 2023
Protesters from Greenpeace, Stay Grounded, Extinction Rebellion and others chain themselves to aircraft in Geneva
Dozens of climate activists have disrupted Europe’s largest private jet trade fair by chaining themselves to aircraft to protest against the sector’s carbon emissions.
The demonstrators on behalf of Greenpeace, Stay Grounded, Extinction Rebellion and Scientist Rebellion also attached themselves to the entrance gates of the event at Geneva airport in the hope of preventing prospective buyers from entering the annual show.
The activists, who were calling for a global ban on the use of private jets because of their carbon footprint, stuck tobacco-style health warning labels on some of the jets at the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE) saying private jets “burn our future”, “kill our planet”, and “fuel inequality”.
— Stay Grounded Network (@StayGroundedNet) May 23, 2023
❗HAPPENING NOW❗ More than 100 brave climate activists from @Greenpeace@staygroundednet @extinctionrebellion and @scientistrebellion demand #BanPrivateJets in #EBACE, the biggest private jet sales fair in Europe, an event for private jet users to keep buying and flying in their… pic.twitter.com/JUP7UCZnP2
— Greenpeace International (@Greenpeace) May 23, 2023
Between two and three hundred protesters will join a seven-day march from Arnhem to The Hague, organised by Extinction Rebellion. They will start on Sunday and walk along the A12. The march ends on 27 May, the day the group plans to block the A12 in The Hague again to protest against government subsidies to the fossil industry.
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It is the seventh time that Extinction Rebellion is planning to block the A12. At the last demonstration on 11 March, some 700 activists were eventually detained.
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Video of March 2023 protest.
During a demonstration by Extinction Rebellion on the A12 in The Hague a symphony orchestra played the second movement of Beethoven’s Symphony no.7. By doing so, the orchestra supported the demand of XR to stop the yearly 17.5 billion in fossil fuel subsidies by the Dutch government. The musicians are convinced that the beauty of music and of people connecting through music will also disappear if the climate crisis exacerbates.
At the moment the orchestra entered the road, police began to demand the protesters to leave or face arrest. Threatened by the deployment of water cannons, the orchestra decided to play anyway, which seemed to have a de-escalating effect. With this action the orchestra showed in a democratic way that beauty is tarnished.
Violinist Vera Beths : “Nature is a great source of inspiration for composers. You can find everything in it; harmony, dissonance, rhythm and form. We are in the process of disturbing this balance systematically. That has to stop. We have to start listening again.”
