Activists hold head in the sand protest on Manly Beach
It only lasted one minute, but there were bizarre scenes on one of Australia’s most well-known beaches today.
It didn’t cause disruptions to our major cities, but the climate change protesters turned their attention to Manly Beach for a bizarre protest on Friday.
About 150 protesters buried their heads in the sand for one minute as part of the week-long events being staged across the country as part of the Extinction Rebellion protests.
“As we face into the Climate Emergency, it seems many around us have their heads in the sand, afraid to face the reality of what is coming,” it said on the Facebook page for the event.
“Taking action to bring about change is the only way forward for the future of our planet.
To highlight the futility of the heads in sand approach, we will gather with as many people as possible on Manly beach.”
People were asked to bring a shovel and towel. And a message to write on their behind.
“Please please ease EVERYONE COME to this. It’s going to look so great if hundreds come!
Think about the message to have on you butt too,” the Facebook event stated.
“This will be a family friendly, non-disruptive event where we will have a bit of fun while getting our point across.”
The sand protest comes after dozens of people were arrested in Brisbane this morning.
Hundreds of protesters took to William Jolly Bridge just after 10am chanting “this is what democracy looks like”, closing it to traffic.
Extinction Rebellion claims 35 activists were arrested after the bridge stunt.
In Melbourne commuters have been told to down tools and leave work early tonight as climate activists prepare to wreak chaos on the CBD’s transport network once again.
It’s the fifth day of disruption, with frustrations running high in the city.
More than 100 arrests have been made throughout the week in Melbourne.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has slammed the protesters and Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk vowed to fast-track laws to increase the penalties for protesters using locking devices.
Earlier this week a man suspended himself from the Story Bridge, another blocked trains and multiple protesters locked themselves to a boat in Brisbane’s CBD.
Climate change protesters who’ve disrupted major capital cities this week are thumbing their noses at working people, the federal government says.
Mr Dutton on Friday resumed his attack on activists protesting under the Extinction Rebellion banner, branding them “radicals” and “outliers”.
“They do their cause more harm than good,” he told Nine Network on Friday.
“They are, frankly, just thumbing their nose at Australians who want to two to work, run their businesses, [and] don’t want to be disrupted by these people.”
Extinction Rebellion has been leading a week-long series of protests in major cities to raise awareness about climate change as part of a campaign to force Australian governments to declare a “climate emergency’.
Some of their activities, which has included locking themselves to concrete objects and fences and glueing themselves to roads, have been criticised for disrupting commuters and businesses and for taking up police time. Mr Dutton again raised the prospect of charging protesters acting without permits for the cost of the police response.
“When you are acting outside of the law, which these people are doing, you are diverting valuable police resources. I think there should be a price to pay for that,” he said.
- With AAP