Trade deal protesters lock into railway
Six protesters locked themselves to a train track yesterday while another group protested near a busy Christchurch road to show their disapproval of the TPPA.
Our Children’s Future spokeswoman Josie Butler said the protesters were at the railway tracks on Thursday to show the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) would be very similar to the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement.
Butler is a Christchurch nurse who threw a dildo at thenEconomic Development Minister Steven Joyce at Waitangi 2016 and organised a ‘‘Queer Quake Mardi Gras’’ in response to a sermon by Destiny Church’s Brian Tamaki in 2016 when he blamed the Canterbury earthquakes on Christchurch’s high murder rates and its support for gay marriage.
Protest spokeswoman Gen de Spa said the group decided to block the train track ‘‘to make the strongest point possible, whilst p...ing off as few people as possible’’. ‘‘ We are concerned that increased exports made possible by the TPPA will mean further intensification of the dairy industry and lead to further pressure on local rivers through more nitrate pollution and higher irrigation takes,’’ she said.
Our Children’s Future member Simon Brown said the protesters wanted to express their disapproval of Labour’s decision to sup- port the CPTPP. ‘‘Not all growth is good growth. There needs to be stronger negotiations.’’
He said supporting the CPTPP meant supporting an increase in burning fossil fuels.
‘‘Labour has done a U-turn and we are trying to raise awareness. It’s not very smart.’’
A KiwiRail spokesperson said KiwiRail had suspended services near Middleton.
One freight service would be held up until police had cleared the tracks, they said.