Hundreds of Extinction Rebellion demonstrators, many dressed as endangered animals, rally in Brisbane

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Around 250 environmental activists have laid down among the dinosaurs at the Queensland Museum on Sunday, in the first large Extinction Rebellion event in Brisbane.

Protesters, many dressed as endangered animals, laid on the floor of the museum’s Lost Creatures exhibit amid fossils and dinosaur reconstructions, including the state’s famous Muttaburrasaurus.

“This is a symbolic action to show that if we continue killing the planet we will die as well,” Alice Wicks from Extinction Rebellion said.

“Scientists are telling us we only have within this next decade to act.”

Police take hard line on arrested Extinction Rebellion protesters Read more

After spending 15 minutes inside, the protesters took their “die-in” to the museum’s famous Whale Mall outside.

Craig and Claire Walsh brought their three daughters to the event, inspired by the actions of the teenage Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.

“She was 16 and doing something about it, so we took it on as a passion project for the family to get involved,” Claire Walsh said.

Annabelle, 10, said it was important for kids’ voices like hers to be heard. “If we don’t change anything we’re doing and try to help save the world, then there won’t be a world to live on soon.”

Her sister Josie, eight, said her greatest concern was diminishing bee populations. “They pollinate flowers and that’s how we have cucumbers and all the things in salad we need to keep us healthy.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Environmental activists spent 15 minutes lying in silence on the floor of the Queensland Museum’s dinosaur exhibit. Photograph: Natalie Bochenski/AAP

Extinction Rebellion events have been held around the world as part of a global climate change movement, with rallies staged in Melbourne and Sydney in recent days.

The movement is calling for zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 in order to stop the 6th Mass Extinction Event.

Wicks said the local chapter was planning more and bigger actions in coming months, particularly focusing on the controversial Adani coalmine in central Queensland.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Climate protesters staged a ‘die-in’ at the Queensland Museum in Brisbane as part of the Extinction Rebellion events held around the world. Photograph: Natalie Bochenski/AAP

Last week the Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, welcomed a series of approval dates for the Adani mine, released by the state’s coordinator general, including a black-throated finch management plan by 31 May and a groundwater dependent ecosystem management plan by 13 June.

“It’s been really dodgy the way they’re trying to push this mine ahead,” Wicks said. “We need to save the Great Barrier Reef, we need to save everything.”

Meanwhile another Extinction Rebellion protester was briefly arrested before the “die-in” began.

Tom Howell, 29, was picked up by police for a breach of bail over a protest on 20 April, in which he suspended himself 10 metres off a railway bridge at Annerley used to transport coal.

A Chuffed.org campaign has already raised the $1,500 Howell needs to pay his fines. He was released around 1.30pm on Sunday once the protest had wrapped up.