A climate change activist who suspended himself above a train track at a Sydney port has avoided jail despite his “irresponsible, unlawful” protest. On Dec. 15, Wenzel Valentine Auch was sentenced to an 18-month community corrections order and fined $1350 (US$950) for his role in protests planned by Blockade Australia in March this year.
Auch hung himself above a rail line near Port Botany along with fellow protester Emma Dorge, where the pair anchored themselves to a bridge and livestreamed their actions.
Magistrate Theo Tsavdaridis found the 30-year-old endangered himself and police officers who had to rescue him by abseiling down from the bridge before he refused their directions to get him to safety….