Six protesters abseil off Sydney Harbour Bridge

Six people have abseiled from the Sydney Harbour Bridge in protest of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s stance on climate change.

Greenpeace announced early on Tuesday six “specialist trained climbers” had mounted the iconic structure while more protesters lined the pedestrian areas of the bridge.

NSW Police confirmed to Yahoo News Australia a police operation was underway at the site, and later revealed 13 people have been arrested, including those who abseiled off the bridge.

While delays were feared for commuters using the bridge on Tuesday morning, NSW Police said traffic was flowing north and southbound as of 6.45am and that trains were running as normal.

Protesters speak out over climate change

Queenslanders Andrew and Amelia Rankin, whose Townsville home was flooded earlier this year joined the protesters on the ground on Tuesday.

“We’ve lived in Townsville for more than 20 years and in that time we’ve experienced many floods. But the one earlier this year was like nothing we’d ever seen before,” Ms Rankin said.

Independent Bega Valley Shire Councillor Jo Dodds, whose home was surrounded by flames in the Tathra bushfires last year, questioned what further warnings governments needed to act on climate change.

“I almost lost my house in Tathra to a catastrophic bushfire last year. I was lucky but many of my friends and neighbours lost everything,” she said.

“We’re seeing increasingly intense bushfires, and longer bushfire seasons than ever before in Australia. This is driven by climate change - and coal is the number one cause of climate change in Australia.

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