Two people who chained themselves to logging machinery this morning in the Upper Florentine have been arrested. Logging in the coupe was halted for about 3 hours this morning as conservationists penetrated a security cage that logging machinery is parked in nightly.
The man and the woman chained themselves to harvesting equipment in the early hours of this morning. They have been charged with trespass and will appear in Hobart Magistrates Court at a latter date. Nearly 80 people have been arrested in the Upper Florentine this year.
“Despite the extremely heavy police and security presence in the Upper Florentine, peaceful protesters will continue to stand up for Tasmania’s ancient forests. Work will continue to be stopped and people will continue to be arrested. Soon we will see the 100th arrest in the Upper Florentine for just this year. There have been dozens of people getting arrested for the first time. People from all walks of life have been getting arrested, from a 17 year old man from Hobart to a 70 year old from Westerway, a town nearby the contentious forest. The large number of arrests in the area proves that there is a huge amount of community outrage over the logging of the Upper Florentine and people are willing to get arrested to make their point.” Said spokesperson Ed Hill.
“Many people who have been arrested are Derwent valley locals who have campaigned for years to protect the Upper Florentine, David Bartlett will not even give those locals ten minutes of his time to listen to their concerns. When the Premier blatantly disregards the concerns of his constituents, it is no surprise that they resort to peaceful civil disobedience.”
“The heavy Police presence in the forest is draining police force’s resources just so Forestry Tasmania can decimate an ancient forest and Gunns can make a tidy woodchip profit. Protests will continue until this government ends old growth logging; this would help solve the problem of an overstretched, under-resourced police force.”
“It is irresponsible of David Bartlett to prioritize the protection of woodchip profits and old growth logging over police's actual role of keeping Tasmania safe. If the police are so over stretched as a result of logging in the Upper Florentine all David Bartlett needs to do is stop the logging, the protests will stop and police can go back to doing their jobs.” Said spokesperson Ed Hill
“If the Police Association is concerned about overstretching of resources, they should lobby the government to stop logging the area due to the overwhelming public outcry and protest.”
“Only one person is responsible for over stretching police resources: David Bartlett, with his insistence on wholesale destruction of our world heritage valued forests.” Said Ed Hill.
“This issue is so contentious, The Bartlett government knew very well that there would be large and prolonged protests in the area, if they had concerns over how this would effect police resources, they should have reconsidered logging the area in the first place.”
“David Bartlett is happy to funnel as much taxpayer money as it takes into this operation to see that this old growth forest is obliterated forever.” Concluded Ed Hill.
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