11th June 2009
Yesterday police and forestry officers forced protesters out of the Millewa Forest where they had stopped an illegal logging operation for ten days. Despite the peaceful nature of the protest and the small number of protesters about fifty police were deployed in the operation. Three people were arrested.
Although happy to use the heavy hand of the law to break up a democratic protest, the NSW government continued to flout their own environmental legislation, sending the loggers back in immediately, in contravention of both the NSW Environmental Planning and Assessment Act (1979) and the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (1999).
The situation remains unresolved. For information on forest protests, contact the Friends of the Earth office on (03) 9419 8700.