Extinction Rebellion has come to the Bega Valley this morning, June 8, holding a protest on top of MP Andrew Constance's office on Carp Street.
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The group uses civil disobedience tactics which aim to disrupt and often result in arrests and imprisonment.
The past fortnight has seen the first unlawful actions held by Extinction Rebellion in Bega, but momentum for the group has been growing alongside School Strike 4 Climate rallies and marches.
A portion of Carp Street from the Bega Town Clock to Bega Coles was closed down by police and emergency service workers around 7.45am Tuesday morning in an attempt to clear the area and mitigate safety risks.
A pile of woodchips had been emptied in front of the Bega MP's office and those on the scene said they were protesting the logging of native and state forests, especially in light of bushfire and flooding events in the Valley.
Three protesters climbed on top of the office and refused to come down despite several warnings by police.
Police on the scene told protesters and their supporters that a police rescue team had been deployed from Goulburn and that it may be some time before the team arrives.
In the meantime police were directing the public to stay clear of the awning, which they said was unstable to support the weight of the protesters.
Meanwhile, one man superglued his hand to the office door and had to be removed by paramedics. He was taken into the police van. After he was put into the van his belongings were searched.
The man was then released from custody but laid down in the middle of the street. He then had to be removed from the scene by police officers and was again placed into the back of the van.
The group had supporters who lined the walkways like Pearl Cavander-Cole who came down from Tuross Head to support the protest and who said she was a member of Extinction Rebellion.
"We need to have these lungs, we need to have these forests. Why is it all about humans and the economics of the argument. It's not on, we forget about the wildlife, the flora and the fauna.
"It's all about humans and how important we are and how economically successful we are. Well I'm fed up with this ongoing wood chipping for a start! It's absolutely criminal," she said.
Despite the supporters, there were also members of the public who haggled those who protested. Some were in support of the logging actions and others in disagreement with the action taken on the day.
Gwen Roscoe from Bega was on her morning walk with her dog and was on the way to pick up a copy of the paper when she came across the scene.
"It scared me seeing them when I came down here. To me, this is dangerous and wrong what they're doing. What if one of them slips, then you've got a dead body on your hands. That's the sad thing about it.
"The police and ambulance have more important things to do. It's just so sad and such a waste of resources.
"Why don't they get out and get a real job, I would love to be still working," she said.
UPDATE:
Police Rescue teams arrived at around midday to attempt to remove the protesters from the awning of Mr Constance's office.
As rescue teams weighed in on the risks at the scene, the two young men on top of the awning locked-on using metal piping, making it impossible to remove them from the scene without an electric saw.
The women who was dressed an an angel was removed from the awning at around 1pm and was taken in and arrested.
Around 1:30pm, police were still attempting to remove the first of the two men from the scene.
At 2pm the protester was taken down from the awning and arrested by police.
Emergency service personnel continue to work on removing the second individual from his lock-on position on the roof as many people from public continue to watch the proceedings.
UPDATE:
Police and rescue workers removed both of the protesters who had locked-on at around 2.50pm this afternoon after several hours on the scene.
Both men were arrested at the scene and taken into custody by the police officers.
Some local businesses in the vicinity expressed their frustration with the protest and subsequent road closures which meant their businesses suffered economic losses.
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