Switch off Hazelwood (Australia)

9 Sep­tem­ber 2009
“Switch off Hazel­wood. Switch off Coal. Switch on Renew­ables” was a day of fun, cre­ative and inspir­ing direct com­mu­ni­ty action at Hazel­wood coal pow­er sta­tion. The protest at the front gates of the Hazel­wood Pow­er Sta­tion was organ­ised by com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers who care about cli­mate change — and are will­ing to take peace­ful com­mu­ni­ty action. Mel­bourne Indy­media was there live cov­er­ing the demon­stra­tion as it hap­pened.

Twen­ty-two arrests occurred through-out the after­noon as peo­ple tried to get into the plant to switch off Hazel­wood.

http://www.switchoffhazelwood.org/
http://twitter.com/hazelwood2009

9:00 Last night approx­i­mate­ly 300 peo­ple ate, camped and planned togeth­er for the day of action. Most peo­ple were formed into affin­i­ty groups and took part in the spokes coun­cil meet­ing. Spir­its were high with live music, films by indy­media, and great food from Food Not Bombs.

9:30 Media van got stopped, one of two nego­ti­at­ed cars got through. 11:00

11:00 Media set up with heli­copters buzzing over our heads. Speech­es at start of demon­stra­tion: Rob­bie Thor­pe, Sven Teske and Scott Lud­lam. “Bikezil­la” the giant bike join the parade and many offi­cers have their badges obscured. Oth­er­wise liai­son is work­ing well.

12:19 The protest march has reached the front gates where there is a heavy police pres­ence and lots of new tem­po­rary fenc­ing to keep pro­test­ers at bay. Speech­es in front of gates: David Spratt, Mer­ryn Reben­bach, Dave Sweeney con­grat­u­lates locals: “Peo­ple from the val­ley can’t voice their options and still be anony­mous” “The place will become an indus­tri­al sac­ri­fice zone as well as an eco­log­i­cal one”

12:31 Demon­stra­tors wav­ing to the heli­copters and hold­ing bal­loons.

12:45 David Spratt speech “Min­is­ter Should Resign”

12:55 Two Bel­grave Wom­bats jumped the fence, two pushed away- two arrest­ed 1:03 Cheer­leader and Cli­mate Actions Dance Group start. Rain stopped.

1:00 “Sil­ly walks min­istry” moves towards fence.

1:12 Police hors­es ride up to hill-fence to con­front pro­tes­tors.

1:13 Water and police on hors­es in place

1:15 Kids are play­ing with the “world”. Sec­ond wom­bat brought out of the gate.

1:20 Rad­i­cal Cheer­lead­ers in action chant­i­ng.

1:21 more police in front of the fence. Cheer­ing activists move for­ward towards police and fence.

1:26 Around six more jumped the fence

1:34 Garbage bin sound-sys­tem starts. Anoth­er pro­test­er jumps the fence

1:35 The first two arrest­ed wom­bats got charged and released.

1:36 Activists posi­tioned on grass hill try­ing to push down fence.

1:40 Cheer­lead­ers cre­ate diver­sion on fence line.

1:48 Chant and march down fence. Try­ing to shake fence down. Hors­es almost tram­ple pro­test­ers.

1:50 Pro­test­er jumps over fence. Groups of pro­test­ers shake and try to jump fence

2:01 loud chant­i­ng. Batons up. Activists on hill­side walk in an unbro­ken line towards the fence. Line is stopped by police hors­es.

2:02 Three activists get over the fence. Two get rough­ly pushed away and do not get over the fence.

2:03 Anoth­er activist dressed as a car­bon cop jumps the fence and gets arrest­ed.

2:05 Arrest Update: 13 so far

2:11 Crowd turns its back to Hazel­wood in dis­gust.

2:30 Three more get over the fence, one tack­led by police.

2:55 Arrests: 22, every­one ID processed on site. No one has been tak­en to Mor­well police Sta­tion as yet. Most activists have been released on sum­mons.

3:10 Activist form­ing a gigan­tic wind­mill, cheer­ing and even though it’s rain­ing a moti­vat­ed out­come of the days efforts.

3:30 Peo­ple head­ing home after a great day of civ­il dis­obe­di­ence against the one of the worst car­bon pol­lut­ing coal plants in Vic­to­ria and the world.