More to come, say climate protesters

CRAIG SIMCOX/The Dominion Post

TRADE BARRIER: A heavy police presence keeps protesters off the road outside the Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry in Lambton Quay.

Relevant offers

Politics

Shake-up heading in EQC's direction Brownlee turns up heat on council over rebuild Agency mulled to run emergency 111 system MPs' travel bills leap during election Remedial work for navy's problem ship Wait for new oil law before awarding permits, Govt urged TVNZ included in police Electoral Act investigation Sea law 'an environmental risk' Govt defends 50c an hour minimum wage lift Maori queue-jumping for SOEs raised

Protesters who led to the stock exchange building being placed in lockdown are warning people to expect further disruption.

Police arrested nine protesters yesterday as about 50 people gathered at the NZX building in central Wellington.

Gary Cranston, 29, said many of the group had spent the weekend at a Camp for Climate Action in Upper Hutt, and those protesting came from various points between Auckland and Dunedin.

They felt that carbon trading allowed businesses to benefit from climate change, which was why the building was chosen for the start of a morning of protests, he said. "Carbon trading is gambling with our future and allows polluters to profit."

A Wellington police spokeswoman said some of the protesters were arrested for blocking people's entry to the building. None were charged, although seven received formal warnings and two who were aged under 17 were released by police into the care of their parents.

NZX communications manager Rowan Macrae said some of the protesters entered the kitchen area at the stock exchange, but eventually left when asked.

Although the building was closed to people other than those with access cards, she said trading was not disrupted.

The group then marched to the Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry in Lambton Quay, where two men scaled the building to display a protest banner from the roof for four hours.

John Darroch, 21, said he had climbed up to the roof because the ministry heavily promoted New Zealand's dairy industry, despite 50 per cent of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions coming from agriculture.

He was served with a trespass notice but said he found it "surreal" that no-one from the ministry wanted to discuss the protest with him while he was on the roof. A spokeswoman said the actions of the protesters caused no disruption.

Mr Cranston said the group were happy with their actions yesterday, and were not deterred by the arrests. "We are kick-starting a movement on climate justice in New Zealand. We can't rely on governments to solve the problems."

Their actions were linked to a global movement which had seen 19 other climate camps held around the world, he said, and the timing of the protests in this country reflected their disappointment with the lack of a legally binding deal being signed at the Copenhagen talks.

At the climate camp, the group has hosted workshops for about 250 people which are aimed at demonstrating how they could act to reduce emissions.

The group was yet to decide on what it would do next, Mr Cranston said, but they would consider more protests.

- © Fairfax NZ News