Last Sunday, a property in Colo, north-west of Sydney, was raided by heavily armed police in dramatic fashion, with dogs and helicopters in tow.
Key points:
- Seven protesters have been charged after the raid, with four facing up to 10 years in jail
- The activists’ lawyer says police did not identify themselves
- Police say the actions of the protesters made them fear for their lives
People on the property, some of them members of climate activist group Blockade Australia, say earlier that morning they stumbled across two armed individuals near their camp, dressed in camouflage gear and who refused to identify themselves.
The two men, according to witnesses, jumped into an unmarked car and sped off, hitting two people in the process, but did not immediately get away.
Police say officers were surrounded by activists as they sheltered in their car, their tyres were damaged and they “feared for their lives”.
So, what do we know about the incident, and what have recent changes to New South Wales’ protest laws got to do with it?
Firstly, who are Blockade Australia?
Blockade Australia describe themselves as an “organising network” established in response to Australia’s failure to respond to the “climate and ecological crises”.
Their stated aim is to “build a political movement that can physically resist Australia’s planet-destroying operations with disruptive and targeted action”.
Members have been previously linked to a series of protests, most recently in Sydney in May, when operations at Port Botany were disrupted, a freight train was scaled in Marrickville and a train line was blocked in Tempe.
What happened on Sunday, according to protesters
Up to 50 people were gathered at a bush property, about 80 kilometres from Sydney.
According to Greg Rolles, who was present at the time, they were a “loose network of people interested in a safe climate future”.
About 8.30am on Sunday, a member of the group noticed two armed men dressed in camouflage on a ridge line above the camp.
Mr Rolles says members of the group approached the two men and attempted to speak to them. However, they didn’t move or respond to their questions.
“They were trying to act as if they were invisible,” Mr Rolles says.
“Then they swung up and pushed my friend away and [one of them] pulled out a radio and said, ‘we’re compromised, we’re compromised’.”
At this stage, Mr Rolles says there was confusion in the group as they tried to work out who the men were.
Recent reports of VicForests hiring private security to spy on protesters led the group to think that could be the case here, Mr Rolles says.
“My instinct with the camo gear was that this is private security guards — that was my initial response.
“We even thought it could be some right-wing group who’d found out where we were.
“We were very scared about who these trespassers were on our property.”
At 9am, according to a statement from Blockade Australia, a “large black car sped down the driveway” to the campsite, and the two officers in camouflage ran toward and entered the vehicle.
The vehicle then “tried to speed away, hitting two people”, Mr Rolles says.
It was then surrounded by members of the group, who Mr Rolles says were trying to work out who the occupants were.
People from the group tried to stop the car leaving, with some on the car’s bonnet, according to Mr Rolles.
Members of Blockade Australia asked the four occupants of the vehicle, which had no police markings, to identify themselves, but they refused, according to the Blockade Australia statement.
Mr Rolles says the car then “sped off” again through a crowd, with people on the bonnet.
Mr Rolles denies any suggestion that the vehicle’s tyres were slashed, or tyre valves were removed.
According to the group, about 100 police, including a dog squad, helicopters and uniformed officers, then descended on the property and arrests were made.
Mr Rolles and the Blockade Australia group have made several claims against the police, including that later in the day a police officer urinated in front of a 14-year-old girl.
The group also denies any use of violence.
“The police claim made on [Sunday] that officers experienced fear or felt threatened is disingenuous,” the group’s statement said.
“We were not the ones with the guns.”
And according to NSW Police?
New South Wales Police referred questions from the ABC to a media release as “a number of people are now before the courts, [they] are not in a position to provide more information at this stage.”
“About 8.30am yesterday (Sunday 19 June 2022), police were conducting planned investigations at a property on Putty Road, Colo, when they were approached by a group of people.
“Police will allege in court the officers were surrounded by a group of people and the tyres of an unmarked police vehicle were damaged, rendering it undriveable.
“Officers attached to Hawkesbury Police Area Command responded to the incident, as well as neighbouring commands and specialist resources including PolAir, the Dog Unit, the Public Order and Riot Squad, Police Rescue, Raptor Squad and Operations Support Group.”
Speaking to the media on Sunday, Acting Assistant Commissioner Paul Dunstan said officers from Strikeforce Guard were “conducting investigations” in the Colo area that morning when they were “approached by a group of people in near vicinity to a property in Colo Valley”.
“That group set about circling the police as they moved towards their vehicle, and they pushed, shoved, jostled police before they managed to enter the vehicle.
“The police fortunately managed to leave the area after a struggle and some time ensued.
“This activity will not be tolerated by the New South Wales Police Force.
“Those police that were attacked by that group this morning feared for their lives.”
According to Acting Assistant Commissioner Dunstan, the NSW Police commenced Strikeforce Guard to “prevent and disrupt further protest activity that would … disrupt the city in June this year”.
On the Blockade Australia website, there is a call for people to join climate protests in Sydney between June 27 and July 2:
“Converge on Sydney from Monday June 27th to blockade the streets of Australia’s most important political and economic centre and cause disruption that cannot be ignored. We will meet in the CBD to participate in mass, disruptive action.”
What have NSW’s new protest laws got to do with the arrests?
In April this year, NSW parliament passed legislation, including fines of up to $22,000 and/or jail terms of up to two years, for protesting illegally on public roads, rail lines, tunnels, bridges, and industrial estates.
That followed protests that disrupted operations around Sydney’s Port Botany in March.
Of the seven people who faced court on Monday, at least one is facing a charge of planning to block traffic, according to their lawyer, Mark Davis from Sydney City Crime.
“The basis of that is he was seen [using] a whiteboard showing a road. He was one whose bail was refused.”
The new laws are also likely to make some of Blockade Australia’s planned protest action at the end of the month illegal.
“The sinister part of that new law is it’s an offence to be on a road,” Mr Davis says.
A number of human rights, civil liberties, and environment groups condemned the laws as draconian when they were introduced, and said they threatened the democratic process.
“The new, repressive measures in the Roads and Crimes Legislation Amendment Bill 2022 deliberately target protesters, threatening everyone from school children marching for climate action to anti-war protesters with up to two years in jail and a $22,000 fine,” a statement from the Environmental Defenders Office said.
“A healthy environment and safe climate cannot be achieved in the absence of a robust and healthy democracy.”
But the most serious charges being faced by the seven stem from alleged incidents that occurred on the property on Sunday morning, with at least four people facing individual charges that carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in NSW, Mr Davis says.
“They’re extremely serious charges,” he says.
“Intimidation, assault of a police officer, affray — which is a particularly heavy charge, normally reserved for [things like] gang attacks on people — it’s indictable and comes with a heavy prison term.”
The youngest person facing affray is a 21-year-old woman from Brisbane.
“All of these charges are utterly absurd, not just on the facts of what happened, but on the circumstances,” Mr Davis says.
“These officers did not identify themselves.”
Mr Rolles says the right to protest is more important than ever.
“We’re in the middle of a climate crisis and we need civil disobedience to help us have a safe future.
“Yesterday was an example of how the system that causes the climate crisis is going to protect itself.”