Climate change protester is fined $61,000 after attaching herself to a barrel filled with concrete, shutting down a railway for hours
- Climate change activist Alice Wicks, 26, has been ordered to pay a $61,000 fine
- Ms Wicks stopped all coal trains heading to the Port of Brisbane for five hours
- She attached herself to a concrete barrel and squat down onto the tracks
A climate change activist has been handed down a whopping $61,000 fine after attaching herself to a 500 kilogram oil drum, obstructing railway services for hours.
Brisbane protester Alice Wicks, 26, blocked all coal trains heading to the Port of Brisbane for five hours during a protest in Wynnum West on April 19.
The drum was weighed down with concrete, and she was pictured squatting next to it, her hand appearing to be inside.
A banner behind her read: ‘STAND in the way of EXTINCTION’.
Brisbane climate change protester Alice Wicks has been handed down a whopping $61,000 fine for obstructing railway services for hours
Ms Wicks’s actions temporarily shut down the railway line, and she after she was released from the barrel, she was rushed to hospital suffering hypothermia.
On Monday, the Wynnum Magistrates Court ordered Ms Wicks to pay $61,000 to Queensland Rail after she pleaded guilty to the charges of trespass on a railway, obstructing a railway and obstructing police.
She was placed on a good behaviour bond, but the court found Queensland Rail was the victim of her actions and she has been ordered to pay the massive fine in compensation, The Courier Mail reported.
The activist has been protesting for the past three years, and works in the environmental sector.
‘I took this action because I have exhausted all other avenues for demanding action on the climate crisis,’ Ms Wicks was quoted in Greenleft Weekly.
‘The permafrost has melted 70 years ahead of scientist’s predictions. We need to act now.’
Her sentencing came on the same day police arrested a prominent French journalist and his crew while filming anti-Adani protesters.
French reporter Hugo Clement and his team members were arrested at the entrance to Adani’s Abbot Point coal-loading facility on Monday.
‘It’s clear that the state is cracking down on anyone who tries to shed light on this corrupt system’, Wicks said.
Police later dropped trespass charges against Mr Clement and his crew.
She attached herself to a 500kg oil drum filled with concrete and squat down onto the tracks on April 19