Activists locked on train tracks at Dunedin train station protesting coal

Several protesters have stopped the operation of a coal train by closing in on the tracks of Dunedin train station this morning.

Dozens of protesters are at the station where they stopped a coal train from the Bathurst Resources Takitimu mine in Southland to Fonterra’s Clandeboye milk processing plant in South Canterbury.

The group, made up of members of the Coal Action Network Aotearoa, Environmental Justice Ōtepoti and Extinction Rebellion Ōtepoti / Ōtautahi / Invercargill, protested against the use of coal in factories “to dry powdered milk for export,” said Fiona Clements, member by Environmental Justice Ōtepoti. .

About eight people have locked themselves on the tracks, while others are standing or sitting nearby. There are some in the back of the train, where several were on top of a carriage. Many have large posters or banners with anti-carbon messages or Extinction Rebellion symbols.

A staff member from the Otago Daily Times at the scene said there were three police officers present. The protesters had been asked to move on, but the protesters had stayed where they were and, at the time, the police were still watching.

One of the protesters, 79-year-old Michael Fay, said he was “just doing what my conscience demands.”

“I’m here for these young people, right here on the track next to me. It is morally unacceptable to do nothing while their future is so ruined. [railway] line.”

Clements said in a statement that the shipment of coal was done daily, “beyond my own home transporting the dirtiest fossil fuel in the world.”

“Takitimu is the waka that brought my tipuna from Hawaiki, turned to stone in Murihiku and now Bathurst desecrates this whenua daily by carving and burning coal in the factories of Fonterra.”

The group said it had three demands:

“We tell the State, Fonterra, and Bathurst Resources that they should be honorable bargaining partners and honor Te Tiriti or Waitangi by:

• Stop the expansion and protect the tea whenua from further desecration.

• Implement a just transition from the extractive industry by focusing Maori education and supporting non-Maori and tangata whenua to prosper with Papatūānuku.

• That the Government stop subsidizing and investing in the extractive industry ”.