Well within the first hour of the first ODI between India and Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday, 27 November, two spectators ran onto the field of play protesting a controversial coal project by the Adani Group.
The spectators were escorted off the ground by security officials after they were initially allowed to stand in the middle for a while. However, that’s not all, as a group of approximately 50 people had gathered outside the stadium in protest as well.
One of the protestors reached closed to the pitch before being removed from the field of play just as Navdeep Saini was going to start his over.
The protesters’ T-shirts read “#StopAdani” on the front, while on the back, they said “Stop Coal. #StopAdani. Take Action.”
The protesters, who ran onto the ground just ahead of the 7th over, held placards against a $1billion loan to mining company Adani for a controversial project in Queensland.
The Carmichael Coal mine has been a source of much controversy for a number of years with the Stop Adani group determined to stop the project due to the negative impact it could have on the environment.
Earlier in September, the Adani coal mine registered a victory against environmental activists. The group had announced that the project would offer more than 1,500 jobs to people in the state of Queensland.
On Friday, the Stop Adani group issued a press release, urging the State Bank of India not to approve a loan of $1 billion Australian dollars to Adani.
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