Australia protest forces ship to abort arrival at coal port, 170 arrested
Adds latest arrest number in headline, paragraph 2, police comment in paragraph 5
SYDNEY, Nov 24 (Reuters) -A climate change protest off the coast of Australia's New South Wales State forced an inbound ship to turn back from the country's largest terminal for coal exports on Sunday, the port operator said.
New South Wales police said 170 protesters were arrested on Sunday for refusing to move from the shipping channel near the Port of Newcastle.
The port, some 170 km (105 miles) from the state capital Sydney, is the largest bulk shipping port on Australia's east coast.
A Port of Newcastle spokesperson said disruption due to the protest was "minimal" but that an inbound vessel "aborted due to people in the channel and has been rescheduled to come in".
Port operations would continue as normal on Sunday if police were able to keep the shipping channel clear, he said. Police said the harbour remained open despite "some serious disruptions".
The climate activist group Rising Tide, which organised the 50-hour protest that started on Friday, said the vessel forced to turn around was a coal ship.
Three people were arrested on Saturday after being removed from the water.
Climate change is a divisive issue in Australia, the world's second-biggest exporter of thermal coal and the largest exporter of coking coal.
A similar protest in November last year disrupted operations at the Port of Newcastle, forcing all shipping movements to cease temporarily.
Reporting by Sam McKeith in Sydney; Editing by Himani Sarkar and William Mallard
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.
