Australia: 200 protesters confront line of police blocking Florentine logging road
200 protesters confronted a line of police blocking access to a
contested logging road. Police arrested 15 people during yesterday’s
Community Walk-In For the Florentine march. In a short but heated
exchange, several protesters broke through the the frontline of about
30 officers but were quickly tackled and arrested. No injuries were
reported. Over the course of the day about two dozen forest activists
managed to infiltrate the logging site. One halted forestry operations
for several hours after locking himself to logging equipment before
police cut him free. The two-year-old protest camp was destroyed on
Tuesday although four protesters continued a vigil on two treetop
platforms.
They could be heard shouting their defiance throughout
yesterday’s protest. Police inspector Glen Woolley said the outbreak
of violence was regrettable. “It’s very disappointing. Up until this
stage the protest has always been peaceful,” he said. “The police
presence is here to ensure that business operations were able to
continue, however the activists have decided they would use some force
to force their way through the blockade. “When they did force their
way through the blockade, we were prepared for them and they were
arrested very quickly.” Police called for re-inforcements after the
initial scuffles, boosting their numbers to nearly 60. Protester
Bronwyn Smith said she attended yesterday’s protest because she
believed the old forests were part of the state’s heritage. She said:
“It’s much older than Port Arthur, they’ve never seen a chainsaw,
there’s been very little disturbance. “Can you imagine what it would
be like today if they were at Port Arthur pulling down the ruins? “We
live in a dying world. We live in a world that’s becoming less and
less tenable and less and less viable. And that’s in part because of
the clearing of forest like what’s happening here.”
http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2009/01/15/49611_tasmania-news.html
— Posted to http://forestpolicyresearch.com via gmail to posterous and
also to forestpolicyresearch@yahoogroups.com
