Updated
Video: French television crew arrested at Adani protest outside Abbot Point coal terminal
(ABC News)
A prominent French journalist and his film crew have
been charged with trespass for being on the railway line at the entrance
to Adani's Abbot Point coal-loading facility in north Queensland.
Key points:
- Two protesters locked their arms into a concrete-filled barrel and sat across the rail line into the Abbot Point coal terminal
- French journalist Hugo Clement is in the region with a TV view working on a documentary series about climate change and the environment
- The Frontline Action on Coal said Mr Clement and his cameramen were arrested for being within a railway corridor
Reporter Hugo Clement and his crew have been bailed to appear at the Bowen Magistrates Court in early September.
The police charge sheet shows strict bail conditions have been applied to Mr Clement, banning him from being within 20 kilometres of Adani's Carmichael mine site or less than 100 metres from any other Adani site.
Mr Clement, who works for the French national broadcaster France2, was filming an anti-Adani protest when the group was put in handcuffs and arrested about 7:00am.
As part of the protest, two women had locked their arms into a concrete-filled barrel and were sitting across the rail line into the port.
Police used specialist cutting equipment to remove the women just before 11:00am.
Mr Clement said he was surprised to be arrested and that police did not ask him any questions.
"We were just filming the action of those people and we don't know why but police decided to arrest us," he said.
"I still don't understand why. We are not part of the action, we are not activists, just journalists.
"It's just difficult to understand why police decided to do that because we are not a danger, we did not block the railway, we are just filming, reporting what is going on here.
"I think Adani is a big news topic here so it's not illegal to talk about it. Maybe it is."
Mr Clement was also critical of the bail conditions imposed on them.
"That is very strange. It's like they have something to hide right? Because if you arrest a journalist and then you say to the journalist that he has to keep away from Adani's sites, what's happening on these sites?"
Police said four French nationals were among seven people charged after the protest, also including a Victorian man, 28, and two Victorian women, aged 20 and 22.
It is the latest in ongoing protests against coal mining and the approval of the Carmichael Mine in the Galilee Basin.
Mr Clement said they had been in Australia for almost a week, that they had been on the Great Barrier Reef diving and talking to scientists as part of a documentary series about the world's oceans.
Footage taken from the scene of the protest shows Mr Clement and a cameraman walking alongside the rail line, with a group of protesters behind him.
Mr Clement is well known in Europe for his work on climate change and the environment and has previously told stories on e-waste being dumped in Africa, marine debris, and the export of waste from France to South East Asia.
The Frontline Action on Coal said Mr Clement and his cameramen were arrested for being within a railway corridor.
Mr Clement said not many people in France knew about the Carmichael mine.
"That's why it's interesting for us to be here to report about it. It's not well-known in France, the Adani topic," he said.
"We will continue to work on this topic because I think it's important to talk about it — not breaking the law, just talk about that."
Mr Clement said it showed Adani had a lot of power if police were stopping working journalists.
"I think it could be a good example of the power of the big private company," he said.
"The mining, the coal mining, that global warming — it's something we cannot hide today. We have to talk about it.
"How can we do our job if we are forbidden to come close to their site?"
Monday morning's protest was timed to coincide with the start of clearing works on the site.
In Brisbane, another group of protesters blocked trucks from leaving a concrete pumping business at Windsor.
Protesters said the company was a contractor to Adani and was helping upgrade roads in the Galilee Basin so heavy vehicles and machinery could reach the mine site.
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