ADELAIDE — Three people were arrested on March 3 during a peaceful protest at the Beverley uranium mine in the far north of South Australia. Protesters had gathered near the mine from February 25 to re-establish a blockade that was broken up by police last year.
Izzy Brown, from the Flinders Rangers Environment Action Collective, explained, "We arrived at the gates of Beverley on March 2 and requested a site tour from the foreman. He refused and would not give us any information as to the development of the mine. So we set up camp in order to observe and bear witness to the destruction of Adnyamathanha land."
According to the protesters, Chubb Security used heavy-handed tactics to harass them. During the night of March 2, security guards surrounded the camp in their cars, using lights on high beam, spotlights, sirens and loud music to prevent the protesters from sleeping.
The next day, with temperatures over 50 degrees, protesters were refused cold water or ice by police and security guards, even after one woman collapsed from heat exhaustion and had to be taken by the flying doctor to hospital at Port Augusta.
Later on March 3, two protesters were arrested after being asked by police to leave the grounds of the mine. The protesters were complying with the request when they were thrown to the ground, handcuffed and beaten.
A Canadian journalist who was filming the arrests was tackled and kicked by police, who confiscated her film before charging her with assault. Police have refused to release the film.
The mine, owned by Heathgate Resources, a subsidiary of US corporation General Atomics, is situated on the traditional land of the Adnyamathanha people, in the foothills of the Flinders Ranges. It is expected to commence full-scale production later this year, using the sulphuric acid in-situ leach method of mining which has been banned in many countries around the world.
The ground waters are at risk of immediate contamination, and the Great Artesian Basin, which lies only 50 to 100 metres below the Beverley aquifer, is in danger.
The arrests and harassment were condemned by Adnyamathanha elder Kelvin Johnston, "The protesters up at the mine have Adnyamathanha people's permission to be up there protesting. Heathgate, police, security shouldn't be on that land anyway, because it's sacred land.
"Heathgate is only working with some native title claimants, they're not working with the rest of the Adnyamathanha community," Johnston said. "Adnyamathanha people will keep on protesting until all this is worked out. We give full support to the environmental protesters."
For more information, contact the Flinders Ranges Environment Action Collective on (08) 8675 2242 or 0428 660 636. Action updates are also available on <www.lockon.org>.