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Partially naked pensioners arrested for Tour Down Under protest

"We are baring our ageing breasts and our wobbly bums in the hope of shocking": Extinction Rebellion said the demonstration was over energy giant Santos' involvement with the WorldTour event...

Three partly naked women in their 60s and 70s were arrested at the opening stage of the women's Tour Down Under this morning in Adelaide.

SA Police were alerted to the group while patrolling the Tour Down Under at around 12:30pm local time when they were alerted to a group of people on Main South Road at Noarlunga Downs allegedly exposing themselves.

Video footage broadcast by 9 News showed the group holding signs saying 'we tried polite' and wearing white clothes commenting on energy giant Santos' involvement with the race, with holes cut out exposing certain areas.

Tour Down Under protest (9 News)

Police confirmed a 69-year-old woman from McLaren Vale, a 70-year-old woman from Port Willunga, and a 74-year-old woman from Aldinga were arrested and charged with indecent behaviour for their protest as the riders and race vehicles passed. They were bailed and will appear in court at a later date.

In a statement, climate activist group Extinction Rebellion said protesters were calling for energy giant Santos to be dumped as a Tour Down Under sponsor.

> Extinction Rebellion to target Santos Festival of Cycling

"We are baring our ageing breasts and our wobbly bums in the hope of shocking," one protester said. "Polite pleas and submissions have not been enough."

Earlier this week two women in their 60s were arrested after gluing themselves to a pile of bikes on an Adelaide street in the first wave of Extinction Rebellion's plan to disrupt the return of the race – and, more specifically, to highlight the apparent 'greenwashing' activities of its main sponsor, Santos.

The two women, aged 67 and 68 and dressed in cycling clothing, were charged by police with unreasonably obstructing the path of a driver or pedestrian after blocking a lane outside oil and gas producer Santos' HQ for half an hour.

Gas and oil producer Santos, which has sponsored the Tour Down Under since 2010, is one of Australia's worst greenhouse gas emitting companies.

With today's protesters removed, Human Powered Health's Polish rider Daria Pikulik won the opening stage, holding off Clara Copponi and home rider Georgia Baker in the sprint.

Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.

Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.

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8 comments

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levestane | 1 year ago
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Like Big Tobacco before it, Big Oil deliberatley hid it's excellent modelling on the negatives of fossil fuel use in the interests of short term money and power

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abk0063

Given the billions of people that have been deceived I'm surprised there aren't more protests. Hopefully the legal system will catch up with the oil industry in time.

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robike replied to levestane | 1 year ago
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Here's another media source:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0cgql8f

 

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Rome73 | 1 year ago
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Serious question: how do you 'glue' yourself to a bike rack? And how do you get the glue off? 

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JustTryingToGet... replied to Rome73 | 1 year ago
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BIRMINGHAMisaDUMP wrote:

Serious question: how do you 'glue' yourself to a bike rack? And how do you get the glue off? 

Superglue is water soluble (eventually). As an acquaintance found out when he superglue d a washing machine door on (very bright guy, also a complete muppet).

I would hazard a guess that they use a small jet and chip at it.

Edit. If I was gluing myself to it, I would link my arms through it and glue my hands together rather than attaching myself to the rack.

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Tom_77 replied to Rome73 | 1 year ago
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BIRMINGHAMisaDUMP wrote:

Serious question: how do you 'glue' yourself to a bike rack? And how do you get the glue off? 

Probably superglue. Acetone can be used to remove it, or Glue Remover.

 

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hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
4 likes

Well, that's a bit cheeky

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Hardly Wiggins replied to hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
4 likes

Just doing it for the crack

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JustTryingToGet... replied to hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
1 like

Perfectly acceptable behaviour for the Tour Downed Undies

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