‘Stop Adani’ protests held across Australia, thousands take to streets with chants of ‘Adani Go Home’

Sydney: Protests organised by the ‘Stop Adani’ movement were held at 45 different places across Australia on Saturday against Indian mining giant Adani Enterprises over its proposed Carmichael coal mine. The coal mine is supposed to be the largest coal mine project in Australia. These protests were held in many cities including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Port Douglas, said media reports.
Several environment groups have opposed the Adani’s project saying the mine in Queensland state will contribute to global warming and damage the Great Barrier Reef, added the report.
Meanwhile, Adani Australia CEO Jeyakumar Janakaraj said that the company was committed to create jobs in Australia and there was large support for the project in regional Australia. “We are focussed… the project is needed in the community and we have their whole support,” he said.
“Adani is very focused to get jobs started in the next few week. There is a large support for the project in regional Australia,” he said. He, however, said there was a loud minority voice against the project.He said the anti-mine protests did not reflect the correct picture of how the project was being received regionally by the local community.
Adani and the Queensland government have highlighted that the mine will prove beneficial for the region. This week the company announced it would base more than 1000 fly-in, fly-out workers in both Townsville and Rockhampton.
However, environmental activists are concerned about the potential impacts to the Great Barrier Reef as the coal will be shipped through areas close to the national icon. There are also concerns the coal burned will contribute to climate change, which is the biggest threat to the reef.