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Environmental group Rising Tide is vowing to go ahead with plans for a 50-hour land and sea protest at Newcastle Port despite police orders not to.
The organisers describe their event as a ‘protestival’ with thousands expected to use kayaks and watercraft to deny ships entry to the port from November 22-25.
On social media, the group has said that they won’t be deterred from future action.
NSW Police launched proceedings in the NSW Supreme Court to have the protest deemed unauthorised, citing concerns about the safety of protesters on the water.
On Thursday, November 7, Justice Desmond Fagan found in favour of NSW Police and ordered that the protest would be unlawful.
During the hearing, Assistant Police Commissioner Dave Waddell warned there were “significant dangers that are associated with that sort of activity”.
He pointed to a similar protest in 2020 in which 25 protesters were swept towards the Stockton breakwall after the tide and wind changed.
“For their own safety and that of the other users of the port, we request that people who still attend this event refrain from entering the harbour on kayaks or other vessels with the intention to obstruct other users of the port, or engage in other forms of civil disobedience,” an NSW Police statement said.
“We also encourage all participants to follow the directions of police.”
The police said that talks for a safe assembly spot fell through.
“The Supreme Court has validated the NSW Police Force’s concerns about the safety of the assembly, by prohibiting both the water and land component of the public assembly,” the NSW Police statement read.
Last year, thousands of climate activists in kayaks blocked the water entry into the port for 30 hours.
NSW police later charged more than 100 kayakers who stayed out on the water beyond the deadline.
The group wants government to immediately cancel all new fossil fuel projects, tax fossil fuel export profits at 78 per cent to fund community and industrial transition and end all coal exports from Newcastle by 2030.
