Climate activists end protest at railway station

A protest by climate activists engaged in a "Stop Coal" protest at Dunedin Railway Station this morning has ended.

Before 8am, several protesters took up position on the tracks with Extinction Rebellion flags and signs carrying anti-coal messages.

Police attended and had ongoing discussions with the protesters, on the tracks on on the station platform.

A police officer talks with activists protesting at Dunedin Railway Station this morning. Photo: Stephen Jaquiery

The protest, the most recent of several in recent months, aimed at disrupting the freight of coal from a mine in Southland to the Fonterra dairy plant near Clandeboye in Canterbury.

The train was halted for a time, but by 8.45am the protesters had left the tracks and the train was expected to pass through soon after.

At a protest last month, Extinction Rebellion Otepoti spokesman Liam Scaife said that if KiwiRail continued to haul coal, activists would continue to take disruptive action.

Protesters on the tracks at Dunedin Railway Station this morning. Photo: Stephen Jaquiery

5 Comments

Comments

nivaman Fri, 28/05/2021 - 9:38am #

Yawn, again, you have had your 15 minutes of fame now off you go.

The Wee Donkey Fri, 28/05/2021 - 10:24am #

Good work. People taking real action, not just talking.

nivaman Fri, 28/05/2021 - 5:33pm #

LOL you should "protest" in china or india, I'm sure they will welcome you with open arms.

Tangent Fri, 28/05/2021 - 4:16pm #

If they were serious, they would go to the actual mine to protest. Interfering with Kiwirail operations will result in the mining company resorting to trucks otherwise, which is even more damaging environmentally!
And I can’t see these soft pampered ‘protestors’ trying to stop a truck.

Pat. Fri, 28/05/2021 - 11:22pm #

Scientists warn that humans must keep the average annual global temperature from lingering at or above 1.5 degrees Celsius to avoid the most catastrophic and long-term effects of climate change. Those include massive flooding, severe drought and runaway ocean warming that fuels tropical storms and drives mass die-offs of marine species.

A new report from the World Meteorological organisation, finds that global temperatures are accelerating toward 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming. The authors predict there is a 44% chance that the average annual temperature on Earth will temporarily hit 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming at some point in the next five years. That likelihood has doubled since last year.