French TV crew arrested in Australia at anti-coal protest
July 22, 2019
A French documentary crew were arrested in Australia on Monday while they were filming an anti-coal mining protest in the northeastern state of Queensland. State police said that seven people, including the four Frenchmen, were detained for trespassing.
The crew, working for the television channel France 2, included well-known reporter Hugo Clement, 29, and three others aged 30, 32, and 39, according to protest organizers Frontline Action on Coal.
Authorities say they were blocking a railroad, but the protest group says they were arrested without being asked to move first.
Images released by Frontline Action on Coal show the documentary crew being led to police vans. Reuters news agency reported that the group has been let out on bail, with a court hearing scheduled for September 3.
They have now been banned from going with 20 kilometers (12 miles) of the mine site, according to public broadcaster ABC, and must stay at least 100 meters away from any other site owned by Indian firm Adani Enterprises.
Adani has recently begun digging the coal mine after defeating years of legal opposition by activists. The planned mine will not be far from the Great Barrier Reef.
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