Police have this afternoon arrested a man protesting from a tree-sit location in the Tarkine Forest south of Smithton.

The 21-year-old Hobart man was arrested for Trespassing on Sustainable Timber Tasmania land which was restricting their activities. He was taken to the Smithton Police Station where he was charged and bailed to appear before the Court on 9 December.

Officer in Charge of the Burnie Police Division, Inspector Adrian Shadbolt said, “Police support people’s right to protest, but I urge people to consider the way they do it.”

“Today we had Search and Rescue police attend the Tarkine Forest area in preparation for traversing the tree-site location 20 metres above the forest floor to arrest and safely remove the protester from his location.

“While the protester elected to leave his tree-sit location shortly before police traversed up to him – the attendance for our expertly trained rescue officers diverted their capacity to attend to someone who could have been in need of an emergency rescue at the time.”