Three charged after activists disrupt coal ships

Multiple climate activists have been pulled from their kayaks by police and charged after trying to disrupt coal ships in the Port of Newcastle. A group of protesters who attempted to paddle through a shipping lane at the world's biggest coal port on Saturday were told to move on by police over safety concerns. Three allegedly stayed put and were arrested while officers "assisted" some others, the force said in a statement. A woman, 26, and two men, 27 and 59, were arrested, taken to Newcastle Police Station and charged with not complying with a direction by an authorised officer relating to safety. "A number of other people were not arrested on the water, but were assisted by police when they struggled to return to shore," the force said in a statement. Event organiser Rising Tide had claimed a total of nine people had been arrested after paddling out into shipping lanes, including a 16-year-old student, a doctor and an 84-year-old great-grandmother. "(They) were placed under arrest and either detained on a police vessel before being returned to the shore and released without charge or towed back to the shore by police," Rising Tide said in a statement. Anti-coal demonstrators and supporters had made their way into the water at the Port of Newcastle as part of a mass flotilla and protest on Horseshoe Beach on Saturday. Climate protesters remained on the water overnight and into Saturday after paddling out in kayaks on Friday as part of the planned three-day blockade in the coal-rich NSW Hunter region. There was a festive, determined and hopeful feel among camp-goers, Rising Tide organiser Alexa Stuart said. "We have made our voices heard in a way that our government cannot ignore," she said. "This is one of the most significant climate protests in Australia's history at the world's largest coal port." Midnight Oil frontman and former environment minister Peter Garrett along with musicians including John Butler and Angie McMahon took to the stage to perform on Saturday as part of an associated festival. "It just shows how widespread the concern of the climate crisis is that famous people, everyday Australians, young people, old people, are all here together, united to send a message to the government," Ms Stuart said. Garrett performed songs including band hits Blue Sky Mine and Tin Legs and Tin Mines. He slammed the "overreach" from authorities, including the NSW government, for attempting to stop the peaceful protest event. "Is the threat to the wellbeing and the peace of the Hunter region to be found in a group of citizens exercising peacefully their democratic rights or is it to be found in continuing to export a material which is going to blow the world up in a furnace?" Garrett told the crowd. Court challenges that eventually allowed the event to proceed previously heard some protesters might seek to be arrested to attract publicity. A similar event in 2023 resulted in 109 arrests when protesters remained in the water beyond the advised period, attracting global attention. NSW Police said they had adopted a "zero-tolerance approach to actions that threatened public safety and the safe passage of vessels". There is a large police presence at the event with officers escorting coal ships through the harbour and policing the water. "We're able to go into the water, but the shipping lane, which is marked by two buoys, that's where the police are monitoring the water, preventing us from going into that section of the water," Ms Stuart said. Rising Tide wants to end new coal and gas approvals and has called for a 78 per cent tax on coal and gas exports to help fund the clean energy transition.