In less than a week, new laws will reshape the battleground of Brisbane's CBD, where for several months members of Extinction Rebellion have been playing a cat and mouse game with police.

The protesters' chief tactic in attempting to draw attention to climate change has been to stop peak-hour traffic.

In so doing, their main tools have been devices that make the job of clearing them away as slow and painstaking as possible.

Some have used bike locks to clamp their own necks to metal barricades, others have glued themselves to the road.

Others have sunk their hands into steel drums filled with concrete.

One woman suspended herself from the apex of a giant bamboo tripod on Victoria Bridge.

The most audacious was probably the pink catamaran dumped onto the intersection of George and Elizabeth Streets, complete with multiple people whose arms were thrust into metal pipes attached to the boat.

How are we coping?

So far, Brisbane commuters have taken the disruption in their stride, especially in comparison to the scenes at a London train station last week when a baying crowd turned on two Extinction Rebellion members who had clambered onto the top of the carriages.

The pair were pelted with food and rubbish and then physically dragged off the roof and into an angry mob.

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But Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk lost patience early on, warning protesters had the potential to delay an ambulance from responding to an emergency and therefore seeking to take away their arsenal of devices.

Police Minister Mark Ryan said it was a safety measure because his officers, and the protesters themselves, were at risk of injury during the difficult process of using power tools to cut through steel and concrete lock-on devices.

Then there is the cost of the delays.

It is hard to quantify the impact of peak-hour gridlock, but the Government claimed a person using an attachment device cost freight company Aurizon $1.3 million in April when five coal trains at the Port of Brisbane were delayed for 14 hours.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 32 seconds 32 s The protester live-streamed from Victoria Bridge

So what's out?

Any device will be considered a "dangerous attachment device" if it has the potential to harm a person when you try to remove it.

Specifically mentioned in the new legislation are so-called dragon's dens (when a person is secured by rope, chain or handcuffs to an anchor point inside the centre of a tube of steel), sleeping dragons (by concreting the "dragon's den" within a 44-gallon drum), monopoles and tripods.

A new offence will be created to outlaw using a dangerous attachment device to "unreasonably interfere with the ordinary operation of transport infrastructure" and comes with a maximum penalty of up to two years' jail or a fine of up to $6,672.50.

Another new offence will ban using those same devices to prevent people from entering or leaving a business or to stop it from operating, with a maximum penalty of one year's jail or a $2,669 fine.

Police will also be given the power to stop and search people or their vehicles if they suspect they have a dangerous attachment device.

What's still allowed?

While it might seem strange, bike locks will still be permitted.

So will padlocks, rope, chains and glue.

Is this an odd move by a Labor Government?

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There is a rich history of protesting that runs through the ALP.

A Labour Day march is an annual event in Brisbane and many Labor figures, such as former premier Peter Beattie, fondly remember their protesting days.

It was also a Labor government that enshrined the right to peaceful protest in the Peaceful Assembly Act 1992 and in last year's Human Rights Act.

The current State Government concedes these laws are contrary to the intent of those principles but says they are necessary for safety and to minimise unreasonable disruptions to the community.

Greens MP Michael Berkman accused the Premier of behaving more like controversial former premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen.

"This is the kind of draconian police state that Joh would be proud of," he said.

Brisbane City Council followed up with its own changes.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said he would not allow any group that conducted illegal protests to book public meeting areas run by the council, such as libraries or parks.

Will it stop the protests?

Highly unlikely. Extinction Rebellion has actually claimed the legislation as a win.

"These proposed laws are really indicative of the fact that civil disobedience and Extinction Rebellion South-East Queensland tactics are really powerful and effective," spokeswoman Emma Dorge said.

Protesters locked themselves onto a pink cataraman in the Brisbane CBD earlier this month. ( ABC News: Kathy McLeish )

Extinction Rebellion has even gained an ally — protest group Grey Power (their mission is to inspire older Australians to stand alongside the younger generations in protest).

Member Steve Gray said they affiliated with XR two weeks ago and that it showed older people were also concerned about the climate.

"We booked in the city library under the name Extinction Rebellion Grey Power and we held our meeting there," Mr Gray told the ABC.

"I'm absolutely confident we have the support of the public for Extinction Rebellion activities."

With the laws not denting the resolve of the protesters, it is safe to conclude they are more likely to change tactics (unless activists want to risk prison time).

They have already proven innovative in their efforts to bring the CBD to a standstill.

We must now sit and wait to see what their next idea is to make us sit and wait — in peak-hour traffic.