MEDIA ALERT:
PROTESTERS ARRESTED AT PEACEFUL ACTION OUTSIDE KIRRIBILLI HOUSE FACE COURT IN MANLY/SYDNEY
Thursday 16th January, Sydney: Climate change protesters have been arrested outside the Prime Minister’s Kirribilli residence while he was on holiday in Hawaii will face court in Manly tomorrow, charged with contravening a police direction.
The protest took place on December 19 last year at the height of the bushfire crisis and as Morrison continued to holiday in Hawaii. Hundreds of students, health professionals, and parents set up tents outside Kirribilli, vowing they wouldn’t leave until Morrison returned and delivered a plan to deal with climate change - the main driver of the unprecedented fires.
The police responded with force to the peaceful protest. Images of 13-year-old Izzy Raj-Seppings staring down riot police in tears went viral and gained international attention. Eleven people were arrested after disobeying a police direction to clear the area and will now face the magistrate at Manly Court.
WHAT: Speeches outside Manly Court from arrested protesters and school students before going into court. Crowd of supporters with banners and signs.
WHERE: Out the front of Manly Local Court, 2 Belgrave Street, Manly
WHEN: Thursday 16th January, 9am-9:30am
PHOTOS:
High-resolution photos and footage from outside court will be uploaded here. Photos from the protest in December can be found here.
Sydney student Izzy Raj-Seppings, aged 13 who boldly stared down police at the protest said, “I took action that day because the Australian Government’s denial has gone on for far too long. I’m tired of watching my future, my friends’ and family’s futures, all of our futures, burn before our very eyes.
“What we need is a Prime Minister who acknowledges that this isn’t another normal fire season, that the cause of this is climate change. Lives and homes have been taken while Morrison has his head in the sand.”
Deanne Hardwick, aged 56, parent, primary producer and one of 11 people arrested at the Kirribilli protest said, “I wanted to be there at Kirribilli, to demand leadership, to voice the grief. Good friends had just lost everything in Mt Tomah, it was a relief to stand up and join the voices. The decision to stay at the Camp Out was spontaneous, I needed to walk my talk, and it didn’t seem right for the students not to be supported in the face of such a ridiculously large police presence.”
“We have a property in Brogo, about a 10 min drive from the Cobargo, It’s still threatened by active fires, and it’s only fortunate winds and vigilant neighbours that have kept it safe, others nearby have lost their homes, their livelihoods.
Arrested protester Nicholas McCallum, aged 34, father-to-be said, “Over the holidays, my parents came very close to losing their home in the South Coast fires. It would never have been that close if the firefighters had been given enough resources.
“The fire would not have burnt like that if political leaders had listened to the fire experts who warned of the longer, hotter, drier bushfire season. It would not have been as bad if politicians had listened to the science of climate change and taken the crisis seriously.”
“I took action at Kirribilli to support the student strikers in their fight for climate action and justice because they show more leadership and have a better grasp of the crisis we're facing right now than our politicians. And I will stand with them again and again.”
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