Ryan Gosling shuts down Sydney Harbour Bridge: Climate activists revolt

Left-wing activists have taken to Twitter to slam the closure of Sydney Harbour Bridge this weekend for filming of Ryan Gosling’s The Fall Guy. 

The closure comes weeks after climate change protester Deanna ‘Violet’ Coco, 31, was sent to prison in December for eight months after she blocked a lane in April. 

Twitter activists fumed at what they called a ‘double standard’ after Ms Coco was put behind bars for what a magistrate called ‘selfish emotional’ actions. 

‘Filming a Ryan Gosling flick closes the Harbour Bridge. All good. But a woman delays traffic on same to protest fossil fuels and she’s imprisoned. Got it,’ one wrote. 

Others agreed with the sentiment, seeing jail time for Ms Coco as quite excessive for blocking a lane of traffic on the bridge. 

‘Sydney Harbour Bridge closed this morning for filming. All lanes closed both directions to cars, bikes, pedestrians. What prison sentence will they get? Oh wait…It’s for money making purposes not for reducing emissions to save the climate,’ they wrote. 

Twitter activists fumed at what they called a ‘double standard’ after Ms Coco was put behind bars for what a magistrate called ‘selfish emotional’ actions. Pictured: Deanna ‘Violet’ Coco being arrested

Yet another added: ‘Sydney Harbour Bridge closed for the filming of a move with Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt. Remember when the NSW Govt locked-up Violet Coco late last year? The cognitive dissonance is massive. Shut is shut.’ 

The bridge was closed from 3am to 10am in both directions. The Cahill Expressway was shut from 1am to 12.30pm. 

The cycleway and footpath was closed from 5.30am to 10am. The Cahill Expressway walkway was closed from 2.30am to 12.30pm.   

Twitters users were outraged by the closure after the climate activist was jailed for blocking one lane in April last year. She was sentenced in December 

Photos from the bridge showed production was in full swing in the harbour city with  Ryan squatting next to his stunt double. 

At one point he looked to be riding on the edge of a skip bin in scenes that take place on the bridge.  

The full-scale production saw the bridge filled with filmmaking equipment as well as a handful of cars and trucks for what would be the epic scenes.

Helicopters were also seen in the sky flying low as they filmed the high-octane scenes with the move reportedly also upsetting nearby residents. 

Ms Coco (pictured) fronted Downing Centre Local Court in December before being sentenced to 15 months, with an eight month non-parole period 

Climate change activist Deanna ‘Violet’ Coco was sentenced to a minimum of eight months prison in December after blocking traffic on the bridge. 

The court was told Coco drove a large hire truck along the Cahill Expressway on the bridge to purposefully block a lane during peak hour on April 13, around 8.30am.   

While the truck was obstructing traffic, she stood on top of it, held a lit emergency flare and livestreamed the event.

 The full-scale production saw the bridge filled with filmmaking equipment as well as a handful of cars and trucks for what would be the epic scenes

After 25 minutes, police arrived and forcibly removed the protesters from the iconic Sydney landmark, with Coco resisting arrest.  

Defence lawyer Mark Davis told the court a ‘salient fact’ in Coco’s case was that she only blocked one lane on the Sydney Harbour Bridge when there were five.

‘One lane was blocked … it was a deliberate decision to only block one lane,’ Mr Davis said.

‘To put it simply, the traffic may have still been moving, there was no suggestion there was backup of traffic.’

Coco was convicted and sentenced to 15 months imprisonment with a non-parole period of eight months. Her legal counsel immediately filed an appeal.   

Coco is a serial protester and a member of climate activist groups such as Extinction Rebellion and Fireproof Australia.

She has been before the courts previously for rallying against a mining operation while topless and for setting fire to a pram outside Parliament House.

Hollywood actor Ryan has been staying in Australia with partner Eva Mendes (left). Pictured in 2012