Anti-mining protesters yesterday scored their biggest victory of this week’s sustained campaign of civil disobedience, succeeding in temporarily shutting down a coalmine at Boggabri.
Two activists risked their lives to scale a coal crusher at Idemitsu’s open-cut coalmine and unfurl a banner reading “Protect our water” in English and “Water is for everyone” in Japanese.
The demonstrators were calling on the Japan Bank of International Co-operation and ANZ to cease funding both “Idemitsu and Whitehaven Coal’s destruction of the Leard State Forest”.
Police were called to the mine site and the protesters were eventually removed from the equipment about 6pm. They were subsequently arrested and transported to Narrabri Police Station.
A spokesman for the mine said the company was concerned about the safety of people accessing a working mine site.
“What these people are doing is both illegal and dangerous, and it interrupts our company and our people from doing their job and making a living,” he said.
