Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Perth, West Australia: Police leapt to the defence of Extinction Rebellion protestors staging their second day of CBD road blockades, after a fed up driver jumped out of his car and snatched the group’s protest banner.
Road rage boils over, police officer injured as climate change activists stop traffic in Perth CBD
By Daile Cross March 23, 2021 — 2.20pm
A man fed up with sitting in a traffic jam caused by Extinction Rebellion protesters in the Perth CBD on Tuesday morning jumped from his car and ran at the activists before being stopped by police.
An ambulance was later called for one police officer who witnesses say may have badly injured his knee stopping the man.
…
Video available here
This echoes a similar incident in London 2019, when protestors attempting to stop a train in Canning Town were beaten up by commuters – though from what I saw the angry Perth man did not hit anyone or resist arrest.
Obviously WUWT does not condone violence, and we certainly support the right to protest. I have never had a problem with having to wait a few minutes for a group of peaceful marchers to pass by in front of me, even if I do not support their cause. People who feel strongly about an issue have a right to be heard.
But Extinction Rebellion seems to go out of their way to provoke confrontation and create inconvenience for ordinary people. Extinction Rebellion don’t block a street for a few minutes or a few hours, their tactic is to blockade key commuter roads for days at a time, holding entire cities hostage to their ignorance.
So it is not really a surprise when someone’s temper finally boils over at Extinction Rebellion’s deliberate provocation.
Update (EW): Some outlets have started removing the video, so another link has been added.
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The State Government in West Australia, like ours in Victoria, is full of Labour lefties who crave the power, the money and the corruption that comes with backing green idiocy like carbon-neutral electricity generation.
They hope that ER will help their greed without them having to show their hand. Many police are also converts, so reluctant to act neutrally to uphold written law.
In a nutshell, we are well down the path of being stuffed by violent leftists who have no idea about the complexity of what they protest about. Dogma rules. It is sad, maybe a reflection of education systems gone badly wrong over the decades. Geoff S
Meanwhile here in Perth this event hardly made the news, not even the ABC. Today’s “The West Australian” had a tiny ( about 9 sentence) piece at the bottom of page 16, the last three below –
“Yesterday was the second day of protests by the activists. Dressed as “canaries,” about two dozen protesters pretended to “die” on a busy intersection between Hay Street and William Street. Several were arrested.”
That’s embarrassing for ER supporters 🙂
“Australian Police Attack Counter Protestor” is just as valid a headline as “Perth Driver Arrested During Protest”
No wonder some outlets are removing the video. It makes the over reacting Aussie police look like thugs.
They are, but they do get the shit end of the stick.
I’m betting that the guy who pulled the banner down voted Labor in the state election just over a week ago. Join the dots – he’ll have 4 years to regret his decision…..
The stupid irony of protests to save the planet is they increase carbon emissions.
Cars sitting idling, diversions, crawling along because of road blocks by protesters use more fuel than freely open roads.
Even if you had a BEV, displays, sensors, AirCon etc use more battery which then need more charging later on. Even from green sources, it’s an opportunity lost to use that green energy to avoid fossil fuel energy.
Using more power from even a 80% green grid will not increase green energy generation when needed, only fossil fuel energy can be turned up&down. Only when more green power than demand is available can you use the excess that would be otherwise wasted (requires more emissions to build). Pumped hydro (limited by rain) & BESS require excess energy to recharge again, so using more doesn’t have the expected savings.
If you waste energy you lose the opportunity to use that stored energy to replace fossil fuel by someone else’s needs.
Eric ==> Well, I don’t know about the use of the phrase “Obviously WUWT does not condone violence” — there is no person or central opinion source “WUWT” other than Anthony Watts — he alone speaks for WUWT as an entity. I’m sure Anthony Watts does not condone violence from long association with him here and in personal communication.
I’m glad you don’t condone violence either.
But, that said, supporting the right of citizens to oppose the destructive actions of other citizens, even to the point of grabbing their protest banners, is not something that needs to be apologized for.
I’m not an expert on Australian law, so I don’t know if it is legal there to protest in such a way as to harm other people by blocking their access to their jobs and livelihoods. If it is, it shouldn’t be. If it isn’t, the police should have been clearing the road making it unnecessary for an individual to take personal action.
When the authorities refuse to do their jobs to protect the rights of all the people, the people lose.
Kip, my heart goes out to the frustrated motorist, but it is crossing a line to walk up to people who weren’t presenting a physical threat and snatch something out of their hands, however much we all might personally think the stupid hippies deserved it. I certainly think the police were way out of line, letting the protestors block the street for multiple days, and jumping on and assaulting someone who did not appear to offer any resistance to arrest.
We all condone violence!
But we have our preferences about how it is done and by whom and when.
Dropping high explosives on ISIS militants and blowing them to smithereens is pretty violent. Most of us approve of that.
Watching NHL fights and MMA bouts is pretty popular. More than feelings get hurt.
I hope the Oz legal system can realistically judge just how trivial our guy’s line crossing was.
Eric ==> But do you know if the protesters were breaking the law? What is the law there on such anti-social activity?
Inquiring minds want to know who was breaking the law: the motorist? the protesters? the police? all-of-the-above?
XR would have needed permission to block the road
They either had permission or not.
If they had permission wouldn’t detours have been set up so others could avoid the area?
It is not crossing the line. If others were bold enough to do what that man did, and leave it at that, the world would be a better place.
Forcing someone to stay in one place … not allowing them free movement in a public place is what is out of line. The man didn’t just take something out of their hands for the impact of the action, he was clearing part of the the obstruction. It was not just reasonable, it was laudable.
If others had been bold enough to do what that man did – bearing in mind the police )over) reaction to his protest – I figure XR would have stood back and enjoyed the punch up between law-abiding people and the police who are meant to protect them. Job done for them (XR). Anything ese I say would be modded!
I think XR people may be missing some kind of vital brain nutrient.
Oh, but no. They eat well, Mike. Plenty of nutrients. Just no brain cells to feed.
Aren’t most XR idiots vegetarians?
You are what you eat – and they eat vegetables and nuts 😉
If you are not some form of state official, police, fire service, SES, ambulance etc, it is against the law to block roads in Australia.
30 comments then closed
funny how a climate skeptics opinions isnt allowed to be seen or heard via msms etc but these dipsticks get plenty of media
Yes, violence is called for. These anti-human scumbags must be physically punished. They claim to want extinction for humans, start it with them.
If Aus has similar rules to the UK then XR are causing an obstruction which is an offense.
The Police need to wake up and enforce the law.
By the way the UK is passing a law making demonstrations illegal if they cause disruption.
In the UK, this kind of demonstration will be doubly illegal.
“If Aus has similar rules to the UK” – then the Aussie police will be skateboarding and dancing with the protestors.
How about, in whatever relevant jurisdiction you are in, you go up to the police and ask if the stinkies are lawfully demonstrating and obstructing your use of the queens highway. If the police say yes, you ask from when until when.
If they say no, you ask the police to move the stinkies on or arrest them for obstruction. If the police refuse, tell them you are going to make a citizens arrest.
March up to the nearest stinkie obstructing your use of the road, place your hand gently on his shoulder and shout; i am making a citizens arrest on you for obstruction, you must now accompany me to the nearest policeman / policestation’. call the policeman over. etc
Film it all.
One state (don’t recall which) is currently considering legislation to make it “less illegal”? (or something like that) to drive through protestors who are blocking roads, even if it causes them injury. Not commenting on if that’s good or not, just sharing the info.
Intentionally blocking traffic is NOT “peaceful protest”.
“Obviously WUWT does not condone violence…”
Except when it comes from five coppers pinning a man to the ground because he was doing their job for them.
It’s unfortunate that the rest of his rugby teammates weren’t there to support him. And more is the pity they were not….
People have a right to talk to themselves, as a legally sanctioned group they can ask for permission from the rest of us to march, but they have no right to block a public highway. In most English speaking countries this is illegal. When the police no longer uphold the law – too busy bending the knee or dancing around with the protesters – it is corrosive to democracy and encourages the kind of behaviour that resulted in the storming of the Capitol in Washington. We all suffer.
Grabbing a sign to get it out of his way is violence? Maybe of the mildest kind. The only real violence I saw was five policemen escalating the situation, no discussion, no calming intervention, just outright attacking the man without provocation. Is this how police are trained in that city? All five officers should be suspended without pay, investigated, then fired, and the man should be compensated for damages done to him.
The ER spokesperson didn’t even get her facts right. The man made no attempt to assault the protesters. He simply grabbed their sign (made of hydrocarbons).