Three people yesterday scaled Sydney’s iconic Opera House, unfurling a bright yellow banner on its tiled white sails to protest against the destruction of forests.
Police said five people were arrested after the protest.
“Two women and a man climbed the structure and a banner was unfurled on the building’s northwestern sail,” police said in a statement, adding that the women, aged 22 and 30, and the 37-year-old man were charged with trespassing.
Two other women were also arrested after allegedly refusing directions to leave the area by security officers, police said.
The protesters climbed onto the Opera House in front of hundreds of onlookers, releasing a 10x12m banner that read: “No Harvey Norman. No. Stop Selling Aussie Forest Destruction” as they abseiled down the side.
Activists from the group The Last Stand said the protest was aimed at drawing attention to retailing giant Harvey Norman, a popular chain store that sells furniture and electrical goods.
“We are focusing on Harvey Norman and the role they play in helping to drive forest destruction here and overseas by selling products in their stores that are sourced from native forests,” group spokeswoman Ula Majewski said.
Harvey Norman could not be reached yesterday. It has reportedly previously said it has been unfairly targeted and did its best to use timber from sustainable sources.
Majewski said while Harvey Norman also sold products made from sustainable timber plantations and recycled wood, they were a big enough player in the market to do more.
“We just think that as the retail giant that they are, they can play a really important role in transforming the market,” she told reporters. “And we are just asking them to show some real environmental leadership.”
The furniture industry described the protest as misguided, saying Australia’s native forests were managed to global best practice standards.
The Philippines yesterday said its coast guard would acquire 40 fast patrol craft from France, with plans to deploy some of them in disputed areas of the South China Sea. The deal is the “largest so far single purchase” in Manila’s ongoing effort to modernize its coast guard, with deliveries set to start in four years, Philippine Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan told a news conference. He declined to provide specifications for the vessels, which Manila said would cost 25.8 billion pesos (US$440 million), to be funded by development aid from the French government. He said some of the vessels would
Hundreds of thousands of Guyana citizens living at home and abroad would receive a payout of about US$478 each after the country announced it was distributing its “mind-boggling” oil wealth. The grant of 100,000 Guyanese dollars would be available to any citizen of the South American country aged 18 and older with a valid passport or identification card. Guyanese citizens who normally live abroad would be eligible, but must be in Guyana to collect the payment. The payout was originally planned as a 200,000 Guyanese dollar grant for each household in the country, but was reframed after concerns that some citizens, including
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
RSS