Two protesters have faced court accused of disrupting a major facility during a climate rally near the world's largest coal port. A total of 170 people, including children, were arrested and charged in Newcastle over the weekend.
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00:00It's these chaotic scenes over the weekend that landed these protestors in court.
00:08Do you have anything you want to say to the local community?
00:11No comment.
00:12Sorry, legal advice to not say anything.
00:14A total of 170 people, including children, were arrested in Newcastle
00:20after climate protestors came within metres of a bulk carrier being escorted into port.
00:26A ship is proceeding along the channel.
00:28Today, organisers were defiant.
00:31Our governments can't arrest their way out of their own failure
00:34by continuing to approve new coal and gas in a climate crisis
00:37and not taking care of hunter workers.
00:39That's why we are out on the water.
00:41138 protestors were charged with damaging or disrupting a major facility
00:46which carries a maximum penalty of $22,000 or two years in prison.
00:5232 people were charged with not complying with a direction from a police officer.
00:56All of them are now on bail.
00:58The protest laws under which many people were charged are, I believe, politically motivated.
01:04It's a real shame that they've been applied in this circumstance.
01:07But the Premier says their actions endangered lives.
01:11People that put themselves in front of a giant tanker
01:14and expected to be rescued by a police officer or another emergency service worker
01:20are putting their own lives at risk.
01:21People are allowed to protest but they're not allowed to break the law.
01:24Advocates believe the number of arrests over the weekend sets a dangerous precedent.
01:29Just because the government of the day finds a particular protest politically inconvenient or disruptive
01:36doesn't mean that the right to protest with that particular set of circumstances
01:41should be set aside, repressed or criminalised.
01:44Protestors will now head to Canberra to rally outside parliament.