Magistrate to consider bridge protest charges
Posted
The men who climbed the Batman Bridge in Northern Tasmania to protest againth the propose Gunn's pulp mill last month have faced court in Launceston.
The three men were charged in the Launceston magistrates Court with one count each of trespass of a structure and one count each of wilfully obstructing a police officer.
One of the protesters, Sam Thompson told Chief Magistrate Arnold Shott the group had not intended to be disruptive or unsafe, but felt they had no other way of getting their message across.
Thompson, Holger Strie and Andrew Larner climbed to the top of Batman Bridge on October 17 and remained there for several hours, hanging a banner saying 'Save our valley for the kids' in reference to the Gunns pulp mill.
Magistrate Shott told the defendants he wanted time to consider the charges against them, and ordered them to reappear on Tuesday.
