Climate activists to pursue assault charges against Adani employee

18 Sep 2019 | Media release

06/09/2019

Activists from Frontline Action on Coal (FLAC) will formally pursue assault charges against an Adani employee following an incident on Wednesday morning by the Gregory Highway on the site of Adani’s rail corridor.

They will allege that with no provocation, the employee tackled and wrestled people engaging in non-violent protest. One of the people assaulted, and another who sought to peacefully de-escalate the situation, were then falsely accused of assault. FLAC has lodged a formal complaint with Adani regarding the conduct of the employee.

Will Douglas, a farmer and teacher who is one of the people filing the charges, said “We have done nothing wrong and have nothing to fear from the video footage that Adani wrongly claim documents physical assault and verbal threats. Adani should release that footage if they want to make claims about what it contains.”

“Frontline Action on Coal is committed to the principles of non-violence. Participants are given training in the techniques and principles of peaceful protest that we strictly adhere to in all situations.

“We expect that Adani would also provide adequate training for their employees to handle these situations peacefully. Instead they are dragging peaceful citizens through the legal system for the sake of publicly demonising people with legitimate concerns about Adani’s climate wrecking mine.

“The deceitful actions of Adani in this instance are typical of the bullying tactics of their self described ‘trained attack dog’ legal strategy. Adani’s legal strategy proposes to ‘wage war’ on opponents and ‘take the gloves off’. This violent and aggressive strategy is currently being assessed for investigation by the legal services commission.”

“Adani should be focussing on preparing for their next court appearance on September 20th, where they face charges for failing to report clearing works on the mine site, instead they are wasting the time of the courts with these spurious and deceitful allegations.”

“Adani can’t be trusted to tell the truth. They can’t be truthful about job numbers on their mine, they can’t be truthful about the pollution they put on the Great Barrier Reef and they are clearly comfortable telling blatant lies about the conduct of peaceful citizens who oppose their climate and water wrecking mine.”