An anti-Woodside Energy protester has been charged as police analyse a gas bomb they allegedly detonated, forcing thousands of workers from a Perth office building.
Kristen Morrissey, 49, a member of the Disrupt Burrup Hub movement, allegedly set off the smoke bomb about 10am on Thursday, sparking the evacuation of about 2000 workers in the Woodside building on Mount St.
She was arrested and charged with doing an act to create a false belief and is due in Perth Magistrates Court on Friday.
Disrupt Burrup claims the gas used in the alleged incident was “harmless, non-toxic ethyl mercaptan” – the additive that gives natural gas a foul odour so leaks can be detected.
However, the Western Australia Police bomb response unit is examining the device with the assistance of ChemCentre specialists.
“Woodside is monitoring the health and welfare of our employees and employee assistance program services have been activated,” reads a statement from Woodside that said employees were finally allowed back inside the building nearly five hours later at 2.45pm.
“The safety of our people is Woodside’s highest priority.
“We respect people’s right to protest safely and legally, but it is unacceptable for protest action to put our people’s safety at risk.”
Disrupt Burrup claims the alleged gas attack was aimed to mimic the evacuation of Woodside’s Pluto LNG plant on Friday night due to an explosion from a flare tower – an “audible release of gas” as Woodside described it.
Meanwhile, Disrupt Burrup Hub members held a meeting outside Perth City Council’s Council House, on St George’s Tce in the CBD, after the council cancelled their booking at a community centre at the last minute.
The group had planned to meet at the nearby Citiplace Community Centre on Thursday night, just hours after the Woodside building evacuation.
A Disrupt Burrup spokesperson said it was “a shame that the City of Perth have chosen to follow the WA government and the WA police by running interference for Woodside”.
Perth Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas, appearing in a regular segment on radio 6PR on Friday, defended the cancellation.
“That’s a decision of the administration of the City of Perth, it has nothing to do with the Lord Mayor or councillors,” he told Mornings host Gary Adshead.
NCA NewsWire has contacted City of Perth for further comment.
The alleged gas bomb incident is the latest in a string of action undertaken by Disrupt Burrup Hub in their ongoing fight against the expansion of energy projects on the Burrup Peninsula in WA’s Pilbara region.
The group claims Woodside has tipped $50bn into a “mega-project” in the region, but the company maintains its only current project is the Scarborough/Pluto Train 2 development at a cost of $18.1bn.
So far this year, activists have targeted the Art Gallery of Western Australia, WA’s Parliament House, and the Perth Police Centre with graffiti.
Another Disrupt Burrup member jumped the fence at Optus Stadium during a Fremantle Dockers’ AFL game in May, stopping play for a few minutes as they waved a Disrupt Burrup Hub flag.
Woodside’s Perth office has also been the target of graffiti attacks in the past.