Courts, politicians and police in the sea: the many battles for climate activists at NSW’s Rising Tide protest

Climate activists on the water at the Rising Tide protest as bulk carriers come and go off the coast of Newcastle. Photograph: Dean Sewell/Oculi/The Guardian

As more than a hundred climate activists waded into the Port of Newcastle on Thursday afternoon with kayaks and rafts, with police boats drifting in the distance, it was unclear what would happen next.

In a supreme court room, about two and half hours’ drive south in Sydney, sat 21-year-old Alexa Stuart who was challenging a maritime exclusion zone the New South Wales government had imposed around the port. The zone restricted anyone entering the water over a four-day period in a bid to stop the protest, which was attempting to stop coal ships from leaving the port.