By Candice Boyle
PROTESTERS will blockade two of the city’s main truck routes in Yarraville if the dredging of Port Phillip Bay goes ahead this month.
The call to action follows last week’s cancelled protest when community activist groups had planned to barricade the Williamstown Rd and Francis St intersection on Friday.
The protest was called off on Thursday after the Blue Wedges Coalition won the right to challenge the dredging decision, which has delayed the start of dredging.
If the dredging goes ahead Maribyrnong Truck Action Group (MTAG) has called for community support for the proposed protest that will coincide with the start of the dredging project.
In a statement issued by the action group following the cancellation of the protest, MTAG labelled the project as an irresponsible experiment.
“(Premier John) Brumby and the Port of Melbourne are making it up as they go along just hoping for the best and that the consequences could be absolutely disastrous, both for the marine environment and for the urban environment of the inner West,” the group said.
Greens member Colleen Hartland has expressed her support for the protest and her concerns with the project, which she said would equal more trucks on roads within the municipality.
“It’s bad enough as it is. We don’t need more trucks from channel deepening,” she said.
Ms Hartland said trucks were already using residential streets instead of toll roads.
“Where does the government think all these new trucks will go?” she said.
“Four times the trucks means four times the diesel fumes.”
MTAG said the protest would be peaceful and held with the co-operation of Victoria Police.
