Footage has captured the moment a frustrated motorist took action to remove a protester blocking a busy Sydney road.
Fireproof Australia climate change protesters sat across three lanes on the Grand Parade at Brighton-Le-Sands in Sydney’s south on Tuesday morning.
Several of the stalled drivers tried to ask the protesters to move so they could get to work on time.
One visibly frustrated man grabbed a protester by the arms and tried to make room for cars to pass.
Wearing red shirts, the protesters sat on the road, holding up traffic during peak-hour and caused cars to come to a standstill.
Four of the protesters were arrested and later charged after refusing to comply with police officers’ move-on directives.
They were a 48-year-old East Lismore woman, a 61-year-old ACT woman, a 46-year-old Queensland man and a 31-year-old Brighton Le Sands woman.
Police said the protesters were cleared around 9am.
The charges they received were not covered under new legislation that passed parliament last week, aimed at preventing similar protest actions from occurring.
They were each charged with wilfully prevent free passage of person, vehicle or vessel, refuse or fail to comply with direction under Part 14, and fail or refuse to disclose identity as required.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said blocking traffic to protest was “unacceptable”.
“If you really want to lose support in the community for your cause, keep acting lxjmtzywike that,” he told reporters. “Behaviour like that has no place in our state.”
A driver told 2GB’s Ben Fordham that he was stuck behind the protest and had not moved his car in more than 20 minutes.
Earlier the group behind the action expressed its opposition to the new laws that passed parliament on Friday with support from the opposition.
“Defying newly passed laws Fireproof Australia supporters blockade a major road at Botany Bay in peak hour with their bodies and a call for a Large Arial Tanker fleet of waterbombing planes to fight fires,” the group said in a statement on social media.
The legislation says people can be fined up to $22,000 or jailed for a maximum of two years for illegal protests on public roads, rail lines, tunnels, bridges and industrial estates.
It is an amendment of the Roads Act 1993 and Crimes Act 1900 that impose the tough new penalties on illegal protesters who disrupt roads, bridges, tunnels, public transport and infrastructure facilities.
The new laws apply to ports in Newcastle, Port Kembla and Port Botany; however, the government says more facilities will be added over time.
It comes after multiple protesters wreaked havoc across Port Botany in recent weeks, suspending themselves on cranes and poles to protest climate change.
Attorney-General Mark Speakman said the new laws targeted protesters who wished to “wreak economic chaos” across the state.
The protesters were refused bail and were due to appear at Sutherland Local Court on Tuesday.
