Police arrested 37 people at a climate change protest in Australia yesterday when they blocked a railway line delivering coal, police officials said.
Organizers said as many as 1,000 people attended the protest march from Newcastle to the nearby Carrington coal terminal, where some demonstrators broke through a fence and chained themselves to a stationary coal train.
Police said 37 people had been arrested for a number of offences including trespassing.
The protest, organized by environmental groups under the umbrella of Camp for Climate Action, was designed to draw attention to Australia’s export of fossil fuels such as coal.
“Our presence here has meant there are no coal train movements into the Carrington Coal terminal,” spokesman George Woods said.
Participant Damien Lawson, from Friends of the Earth Australia, said the protest “sent a message all around the world about the need for urgent action on climate change.”
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