Climate activists who chained themselves to a conveyor belt at a coal mine south of Sydney have been arrested.
Four members of the Climate Camp, a three day protest, locked themselves on the belt at the Dendrobium mine at Mount Kembla on Sunday morning.
Police say they arrested five people, four of whom allegedly had broken into the mine, and the fifth for helping them.
They were taken to Wollongong Police Station and will likely be charged with trespass, a police spokeswoman said.
It is believed the five were members of a three-day demonstration by a group calling themselves Climate Camp 09.
Climate Camp spokeswoman Jess Miller said the group was protesting over concerns about the mine's impacts on the local river system.
"The expansion of polluting industries is being done recklessly and community members will not tolerate it," Ms Miller said in a statement.
"We need less pollution and more renewable energy like solar and wind. It's that simple."
NSW Greens MP Lee Rhiannon praised the direct intervention of the activists.
"Today's action is necessary as the Dendrobium mine should never have been approved by the Planning Department," Ms Rhiannon said.
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