An angry commuter broke out at a climate activist after she chained herself to the steering wheel of her car and blocked traffic outside the Sydney Harbor Tunnel.
Mali, 22, parked her white hatchback across the road leading to the busy tunnel and stopped hundreds of drivers on Monday.
She started streaming the protest live when an angry driver walked up to her window and verbally abused her with a string of swear words before storming away.
“You’m f *** ing everyone’s day,” he shouts. “Get the fuck out of the way!”
An unspoken Mali keeps looking at the camera before responding: ‘To this man I would say I stand with you. It’s for you, it’s for your family that we do it. ‘
Mali held the protest as dozens of Blockade Australia protesters marched through the streets in the CBD, disrupting traffic and clashing with police.
One frowning driver was filmed driving his car through the crowd edge and forcing people to jump out of his way with one protester bumping into the hood of the car as they were pushed backwards.
Mali, who moaned about climate destruction in her lively stream, then drank water from a plastic water bottle as she continued her protest on the other side of the city.
An angry commuter broke out at a climate activist after she chained herself to the steering wheel of her car and blocked traffic outside the Sydney Harbor Tunnel.
She started the protest live stream when an angry driver walked to her window and verbally abused her before storming away.
The woman’s white hatchback parked sideways across two lanes of traffic – causing chaos for the thousands of people who use the tunnel every hour.
“The police are here,” she says in the camera. Not sure if you can see. Thanks to everyone who listened.
‘I’m not sure how long I’ll still be able to hold this phone and keep this space. This is a big day ahead. ‘
She then looks out the window to see if the police officers turn around her car before the angry commuter walks back to her car.
The commuter shouted at her that she was ‘fucking selfish’, and then shouted at her a phrase about ‘jail’ being so obscene that it could not be published.
Mali keeps looking away at her phone and tries to ignore the commuter who is insulting her.
The commuter then walks away before Mali encourages her viewers to join her case.
Come stand in solidarity. Look for your voice, ‘she said.
A police officer then walks to her window and politely asks her for identification.
The tunnel is one of the main thoroughfares that take commuters across the city’s harbor, and is used by up to 2,000 cars every hour.
All traffic was diverted through the Harbor Bridge and drivers were backed for several miles.
Police officers surrounded the white hatchback while blocked traffic drove back for several kilometers
The woman was eventually arrested by several officers and the tunnel reopened around 9 p.m.
The tunnel was reopened after the car was later removed, the transportation management center said.
Mali was one of dozens of Blockade Australia protesters who stormed the city after promising to create a week of misery for commuters by disrupting traffic with police desperately trying to stop the protest with barricades.
In a statement, the radical group said their week-long protest activities had ‘started’ with ‘its Sydney mobilization to resist climate destruction’.
“Sydney is where Australia’s operation began, and for more than two centuries it has been where Australia’s destruction of this continent has been the most intense,” a group spokesman said.
‘The institutions of Australia are concentrations of coercive power that make this exploitation possible. Our collective survival remains on organized opposition and the use of strategic direct action to stand against this project of destruction.
Protesters hold a sign outside the Sydney Harbor Tunnel while a car blocks traffic
Dozens descend on Sydney’s city center, with signs and chanting as they demand action for climate change
“Blockade Australia will continue to cause disruption and resist climate destruction in the days to come.”
Meanwhile, angry Australians flocked online to charge the group for interrupting society with ‘dangerous’ antics.’
“These Blockade idiots need to think better,” one person tweeted.
‘Although many support climate change, most of Australia is still against these fools. Ban their public welfare if they want to endanger lives that block traffic and transport. ‘
“I’m sorry, but #BlockadeAustralia is 10 years too late and gives climate change activism a bad name,” said another.
Another man pointed out that the protests meant people were spending more time in their cars with the heaters using petrol due to the roadblock, which ironically was bad for the environment.
A police officer picks up milk crates left on the street while protesters were seen throwing drums and objects in the way of the police to slow them down.
A man picked up a barrier fence and ran away while protests suffocated downtown traffic.
“It’s all well and good to protest, but to harass the wider community is just selfish,” wrote a fourth.
As commuters began walking into the city for work, crowds of protesters stormed Elizabeth Street before marching around Hyde Park to the NSW Parliament.
The crowd was forced to disperse when it was blocked by police at the intersection of George and Bridge Streets, blocking access to the Harbor Bridge.
Blockade Australia said it would hold a press conference at 2.30pm at Redfern Park.