Pair glued to crossing annoy police, public

TWO environmental activists glued themselves to a zebra crossing in Brisbane’s CBD yesterday morning causing gridlock in peak hour.

The protest, which was part of the international Extinction Rebellion movement, caused the closure of Queen St, between Creek and Edward streets about 8am.

Police took more than an hour to remove the pair, using chemicals to dissolve the glue binding the protesters to the crossing. The protesters were transported together in a paddy wagon, still bound in an arm-lock device.

Police inspector Geoff Acreman said the stunt was a ridiculous waste of resources.

“These protests are designed to get a message across,” he said. “In most cases that happens and the protesters move on. Unfortunately in their case they got their message across but it’s caused a massive obstruction that was totally unnecessary. This is a massive inconvenience to emergency services and resources.

“I don’t think it does their cause any good in relation to getting the public on-side either. The public is pretty annoyed to have been inconvenienced as they have been today.”

Insp Acreman said the pair had not committed a crime but caused a public nuisance and failed to comply with police direction to leave the scene.

An Extinction Rebellion spokesman said the protest was about forcing leaders to take action on climate change, including zero omissions by 2025, preservation of biodiversity and putting an end to land clearing.

“What the campaign is saying is that business as usual is leading us to catastrophe,” he said. “We’ve had an environmental movement for over 30 years but we are still heading towards destruction.”