This means no social media or contact through third parties, some of whom he described as “like family support”. His bail conditions include not visiting Sydney’s CBD and having no association with 15 friends, some of whom have not been arrested. Weaver was taken to Silverwater prison and was bailed the next day. Hours later police told him he hadn’t met his bail conditions because the 78-year-old woman who had offered her home for him to stay in “shared his values” and was therefore inappropriate. He was taken to Windsor Police Station and then to a small remand prison where he was eventually granted conditional bail. He was charged with five offences, including assault, intimidating police and affray. Strike Force Guard had a warrant that enabled them to carry away equipment at the camp. Police declared the site a “crime scene”, which meant campers could be detained for six hours. Protesters attempted to prevent the camouflaged people leaving in a car but, before long, the camp was raided by a helicopter and scores of vehicles carrying about 100 heavily armed police. NSW Police Force has since acknowledged they were police carrying out an investigation on private property. Weaver says he was frightened by the discovery, especially because the armed people refused to identify themselves. Soon afterwards a woman, also camouflaged, stood up. During the camp, he and several friends discovered a man carrying a pistol hiding in camouflage on the property. Weaver didn’t get to attend this week’s protests. He believes “transformative change is needed to every sector of society” and that protests are needed that “stand in the way of the current system and highlight climate destruction”. He told The Saturday Paper that after trying for years to get serious action on climate change, he reached the conclusion that we need “more meaningful ways to express the significance of climate crisis”.

One of those attending the camp was trained horticulturalist Nicholas Weaver, who travelled from Victoria. In mid-June, about 40 people gathered for a protest-planning camp on a private, flood-affected property near the Colo River on Sydney’s western fringe. Labor MPs voted for the legislation, which meant it passed despite strong opposition from the NSW Greens, the Animal Justice Party and some independents. While some Labor MPs had concerns, NSW Labor leader Chris Minns enthusiastically supported the bills. When it looked like the laws would be defeated, the Coalition government agreed to exclude these. As originally drafted, the laws potentially turned protests outside parliament or during industrial action into serious crimes. Scores of legal, civil rights and environmental groups claimed the laws threatened democratic rights to protest by effectively handing control of protests over to police. NSW Police Force set up Strike Force Guard, which aimed to “prevent, investigate and disrupt unauthorised protests”. The NSW government’s response to these peaceful but disruptive protests was to introduce new laws that created serious offences for blocking infrastructure, including manufacturing hubs, tunnels, bridges and unspecified roads. Protesters carried signs such as “Survival depends on our resistance” and streamed videos while tied to poles and other structures. The group behind the protests, Blockade Australia, emerged in March when it blocked roads leading to Port Botany on four occasions. “Thinking you can deal with it at an individual level is delusional. They have followed and searched suspected protesters in the street and tailed cars. NSW police tactics have included spying on a peaceful camp, breaking it up with scores of armed police, holding people in custody for unusually long periods and then imposing extraordinary bail conditions that prevent people from entering inner Sydney or associating with friends, even through social media or third parties.

Evidence against one includes drawing on a whiteboard. They have been charged in relation to planning protests. Seven people were arrested at a camp before the protests, and two of them have been refused bail and have been in custody for nearly two weeks. They have mostly been charged with several offences including blocking roads, which can result in two years’ imprisonment or a $22,000 fine under harsh anti-protest laws passed by the NSW government earlier this year. Twenty-one mostly younger women have been arrested during this week’s protests.

This week, the New South Wales Police Force used unprecedented resources and tactics to crush climate change protests in Sydney.

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