A mother was forced to deliver her baby on the roadside with the help of a secondary school teacher after Extinction Rebellion activists closed a road.
Roshni Lad was being driven to the hospital just after 9:30 a.m. while in labor when she, her husband Bhairav and a family friend got into a traffic jam.
Anti-climate change protesters had parked a rented truck across three lanes of Melbourne’s Westgate Bridge, shutting down the city on Tuesday morning. Later that day, one of the protesters was thrown into jail after a late court hearing.
The couple from Melbourne’s western suburb of Tarneit and their family friend who were driving had to pull over to the side of the road and wait for an ambulance due to the traffic chaos.
Roshni Lad was forced to give birth on the roadside after being caught in a traffic jam caused by Extinction Rebellion, which prevented her from being driven to hospital
Mr Lad’s desperate waving at the side of the road was spotted by high school teachers Kate Lonsdale and Fiona Trapani who were on their way to a sporting event with students from St Columba’s College in Melbourne’s northwest.
The pair demanded that the bus let them out and they quickly set out to help the distressed parents-to-be.
By calling triple-0 to get instructions, Mrs Lonsdale was able to help deliver the baby boy.
“I followed the lady’s instructions and I think on the third contraction the baby came out,” she said Herald Sun.
‘I didn’t really know what I was doing.
“I just had visions of being in labor, and all you want is for people to tell you that you’re okay.
“The baby was fine, so I stayed calm and reassured the mother that the baby was fine.”
The healthy baby boy was wrapped in a towel to keep him warm as he waited for an ambulance, which arrived about 20 minutes later to take the family to St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne’s east.
Mrs. Lad and husband Bhairav received very welcome help from a teacher in the delivery of their son
Although it was the couple’s second child, Mr Lad said he was very grateful for Mrs Lonsdale’s help.
“She came in like an angel,” he said.
“She took care of my newborn baby and my wife. She took charge of the delivery and followed all instructions from the emergency room carefully.
“We are very grateful that she is here.”
Meanwhile, a high-profile climate activist has been jailed over the stunt that saw a rented truck parked in three lanes of the Westgate Freeway from 7:30 a.m., disrupting incoming city traffic.
Deanna Coco, also known as Violet Coco, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday evening after police previously arrested three protesters using an aerial platform on the highway.
Climate activists Extinction Rebellion parked a rented truck on three lanes of the Westgate Bridge leading into Melbourne
The 33-year-old serial protester pleaded guilty to charges of public nuisance and obstructing police.
A Victoria Police sergeant told the court the trio disrupted rush-hour traffic by parking the truck and climbing onto it on top of tying themselves together with metal pipes, lighting flares and live-streaming climate action messages at the same time.
The court was told the incident prompted an ‘extensive’ police response due to the danger.
The trio are said to have refused a lawful order to proceed.
“Victoria Police will always support legitimate protests, but not unlawful protests – that’s it,” the sergeant said.
‘This had maximum impact on the audience.’
The trio were removed more than two hours later, with prosecutors claiming the incident caused “massive and catastrophic inconvenience and delay to thousands of members of the public.”
Coco told the court she had been moved to action by the climate crisis, but apologized for her impact on motorists.
“I have been protesting for the past five years… this has come at great personal cost to myself,” she said.
‘What is coming is so dangerous that we must sound the alarm. If I can’t make change happen, I want to know I did everything I could.”
Two others, retiree Joseph Zammit, 68, and truck driver Bradley Homewood, 51, were in court Tuesday evening on identical charges.
Homewood pleaded guilty to public nuisance and obstructing police. He said that while he regretted the consequences, he considered it an “appropriate” response to the climate crisis.
The protest caused major traffic delays and police were forced to use an aerial platform to arrest the activists on top of the truck
“I understand that disruption is decisive, but I am in a state of despair and feel that I have nothing left,” he told the court.
“We are heading towards the collapse of civilization… all protest movements are vilified in their time, but justified by history.”
Both Coco and Homewood were jailed for 21 days by Magistrate Andrew McKenna, who said the behavior had to be exposed.
“It was not justified in any way,” he said. “You have been sentenced to 21 days – a lenient, modest, almost inadequate sentence in light of the damage done this morning.
“It seems like a blind search for purpose, regardless of the harm done to others.”
Mr Zammit initially told the court he wanted to plead guilty and be sentenced, but later appealed against prosecutors who alleged he had caused catastrophic inconvenience and prevented emergency services from traveling to Melbourne’s west.
“We didn’t block all the lanes, it was only when the police arrived that they blocked the other two lanes,” he said.
‘They blocked the entire flow into the grid – there is a real contradiction here. Were they really concerned about emergencies or not?
“Our message is about the climate crisis… what they are suffering today is nothing compared to what is to come.”
Deanna Coco live-streamed part of the protest as members of Extinction Rebellion blocked the Westgate Bridge
He was granted bail on the condition that he not associate with the co-accused and not engage in unlawful protest activities.
Search and Rescue officers used an aerial platform to make the arrests and safely lowered the trio at around 9.45am.
Coco was sentenced to 15 months in prison in New South Wales in 2022 under controversial anti-protest laws after driving a truck onto the Sydney Harbor Bridge in April.
The jail sentence was quashed by Judge Mark Williams the following year after NSW Police backtracked on a claim that protesters had blocked an ambulance.
These charges include possessing a bright light in a public place and refusing or disobeying directions.
Meanwhile, Coco was convicted of several charges related to the incident was given a twelve-month conditional release order.