Climate Activists Face Up to Two Years in Jail If Convicted Over Newcastle Port Blockade

Police have dropped charges against more than 100 protesters two years after they blockaded the port of Newcastle as part of one of Australia's largest climate protests. In the Newcastle local court on Friday, the police prosecutor withdrew charges against 125 protesters. Legal group Climate Defenders Australia, which is representing the bulk of the protesters, said it had petitioned police to do so.

Police should have withdrawn these charges long ago, once it was clear they could not make out the cases against them, said Julia Grix, the founder and executive director of the group, which represented 110 of the protesters. Australia leads the world for arresting climate protestors. That statistic alone is alarming – but it captures nothing of the long, anxious road that follows for those who then have to navigate the criminal justice system.