Weld Valley protests continue : Melbourne Indymedia

50 people yesterday defied a exclusion zone, that stops people from entering public forests, and walked 10km to the site of a new road entering the wilderness forests of the Weld Valley, Southern Tasmania.

Police have established security on the main gate, as well as a mobile operations van, yet even these resources failed to stop the will of the community members who are outraged at the destruction of not only these world heritage quality forests but also the smashing of the one year old Weld Camp.

The 50 people flooded into the area where machinery were ripping into this fern covered gully. After a number of hours three people were arrested, when further police were brought in.

While arrests occured a small band of people began 'black wallaby' operations as police chased them through the forests. Logging was halted for the whole day.

A tree-sitter remains in the forests, and further protests are set to continue...

i had the privilege of visiting the weld camp, pirate ship and forest last summer and am still in awe of the pristine beauty of the wilderness.

now i am also in awe of the dedication of the activists.

i joined another walk in to the exclusion zone today, along with around 150 others, to register my dissent. we all risked arrest and up to $2000 fines. it was a peaceful protest including local grandmothers, women with babies, small children and people from our community who want this to stop. thankfully there were too many of us to all be arrested so they left us alone to mourn the ship and the land. we had a lovely lunch, as a community, by the river and each went our own way to view the recent destruction before the long walk out.
it was unbelievable. i cannot believe the scale of the damage wrought by Forestry Tasmania in five days. it truly defies imagination and belief. it is ironic i can not put into words either the wonderment of the old growth before nor the horror of the aftermath.
the land weeps. this area MUST be saved.
i am a fairly conservative member of our community with environmental leanings and have never been involved in any protest other than the odd rally or two. i am absolutely prepared to join this walk in every weekend and even chain myself up to something if that's what it takes to put an end to the shoddy tactics of Gunns and Forestry Tasmania.