Taxi drivers blockade Melbourne CBD

Taxi drivers who are protesting against the fitting of safety screens in their cabs are being hit with parking fines.

Police have started writing fines for any taxi that is stopping traffic in Spring Street.

One person has been arrested for hindering police while one cab has been towed for blocking the street.

The drivers are protesting about a State Government decision forcing them to install safety screens in their cabs.

The blockade has caused major traffic disruptions for the second consecutive day.

The driver's spokesman Ange Goutsiolis says the Premier, John Brumby must meet with the drivers today or they will step up their protest.

"If we do not get an answer, if we don't talk to Brumby, mark my words, mark my words, we will block the whole city off," he said.

Taxi driver Clive Bundy says most cabbies do not want the screens and will not install the screens they are being forced to buy.

The State Government refused to overturn its policy after yesterday's protest against the screens blockaded Spring Street.

The Transport Minister met with the protesting taxi drivers yesterday, but is refusing to meet them again.

Cycle protest shuts Swanston Street

Cyclists walk their bikes past the town hall in Swanston St.

Hundreds of cyclists silently walked their bicycles down Swanston Street this morning protesting for safer cycling conditions along the busy inner-city route.

- Ride to Work Day
- Hundreds join protest
- 'Safe cycling' demand

Traffic police instructed trams, vehicles and pedestrians to wait as a column of about 700 cyclists made its way from the state library to Federation Square.

The protest was organised by Jeremy Rawlins, whose wife Carolyn died in an accident while cycling down Swanston Street last month, and coincides with National Ride to Work Day.

Mrs Rawlins was hit by a tour bus on the corner of Bourke and Swanston streets after her bicycle slipped over on tram tracks as she cycled to work on September 18.

There were several tour buses parked on the corner where Ms Rawlins died this morning, even as the protesters, led by Mr Rawlins,made their way down Swanston Street.

Some of the protesters carried signs reading: "Make Swanston Street safe for cyclists".

Fellow organiser Michael Frazzetto said Melbourne City Council is responsible for building a safer bicycle lane.

"We are calling on the experts in Melbourne City Council to fix up the street. The council has a duty to provide safer conditions," Mr Frazzetto says.

Meanwhile, hundreds more cyclists were taking part in official Ride to Work Day activities at Federation Square.

The day is jointly sponsored by the government, health groups and cycling advocacy groups and aims to encourage non-cyclists to try cycling into work by offering free breakfast and peer support. Over 1000 people arrived at Federation Square this morning where they were offered advice on helmet hair, free reflective ankle straps, free massages and breakfast.

Most people at the breakfast said they cycle to work and into town regularly.

Stuart Schnaars of Diamond Creek, who cycles for an hour into work three to four times a week, says organisation is the key to commuting by cycle.

"People probably just cannot be bothered," he said.

"You have have a change of clothes and all your showing gear at work because it is too far to ride carrying all the extra luggage".

Andrew Libby from Rosanna says he started cycling into work regularly four or five years ago because he was sick of sitting in traffic each morning.

"The traffic is so bad, it is quicker for me to ride home than drive," Mr Libby says.

"If I drive home, leaving at 6pm, it is an hour and a half because the traffic is just so bad everywhere you go."

Michelle Milton from St Kilda says she finds the on-road routes too dangerous at peak hours, so takes a longer route to work.

"I go all the way through Albert Park to stay away from cars because even though there is a bike lane for cyclists, cars just do not give you the privilege to ride down the roads," Ms Milton said.

There was a lot of lycra, fluorescent clothing and helmets walking around Federation Square this morning, but Ms Milton says the cycling `uniform' is all about safety.

"There is a lot of fluoro, but you want to be seen on the roads."

Victoria Police were also on hand to engrave bicycles with identification numbers so they can be returned to owners if they are lost or stolen.

A spokesman for Victoria Police said the engraving service is available throughout the year from all police stations.

There were some non-cyclists who had been encouraged to cycle into work for the first time by friends and work colleagues.

Hung Chau, from Oakleigh, says he cycled in with colleagues.

"It is my first time today, although I cycle into the city on weekends," Mr Chau says.

"I might cycle more regularly if I get fitter," he joked.

Martine Ward was also encouraged by friends to cycle into work from her home in Fitzroy for the first time today .

Ms Ward says she was primarily motivated by environmental issues and borrowed a bicycle from a work colleague for today's ride.

"I would cycle in again if I had my own bike," she said.

"It was an easy ride, about 25 minutes, but I was a bit wobbly at first" she giggled.

Pipe protester arrested on own property

"It's a sad day for democracy": Farmer Deb McLeish had the backing of her extended family after being led away by police on her Yea farm yesterday.

LANDOWNERS planning to resist the Brumby Government's controversial north-south pipe were sent a clear message yesterday when a 50-year-old woman was arrested for obstructing the project.

Less than a week since work started on the 70-kilometre pipeline, Yea farmer Deb McLeish was arrested on her own property when she tried to prevent workers from entering her land to perform surveying works.

A group of close to 20 anti-pipe campaigners gathered at Ms McLeish's property as she attempted to defy the Water Act of 1989, which gives pipeline workers legal permission to enter private properties.

Workers used ladders to enter the property as the stand-off with Ms McLeish showed no sign of abating.

Shortly before 2pm Ms McLeish was led away and charged after she again tried to stand in the workers' way.

"It's a sad day for democracy when you get arrested on your own property," she said.

Workers are expected to return to her property as early as this morning, but Ms McLeish said police had warned of stronger charges if she attempted to obstruct workers again today.

Ms McLeish said she wanted to demonstrate that the Government did not have the approval of landowners to carry out works on private land, but Water Minister Tim Holding said access had been given by 85% of landowners along the pipe route.

Melbourne Water said correspondence had been ongoing with Ms McLeish since August last year and the work was rescheduled to today at the landowner's request.

Premier John Brumby urged property owners to accept that pipe workers had a legal right to enter their properties.

"If you look across a map of Victoria there are literally thousands of underground pipelines … and they all access somebody's property," he said.

Mr Brumby also invited Professor Tim Flannery, to inspect the project after he labelled the Government's justification for the plan as "bullshit" during an address in Melbourne on Tuesday night.

Professor Flannery accepted the invitation, saying he was particularly interested in how the Government planned to power the pumping of water through the pipe.

"I'm not entirely knowledgeable about the (pipeline) scheme, but just concerned that it's taking water from an already stressed system," he said.

Melbourne Water will negotiate with power companies to buy about 70,000 megawatt hours of renewable energy each year to offset the power used from the electricity grid to pump the water through the pipe.

Victorian Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu — who earlier this week backflipped on a pledge never to take water through the pipeline to Melbourne — seized on Professor Flannery's comments, saying he had branded the north-south pipeline "a dud".

"Tim Flannery says taking water from a drought-stricken catchment is the wrong thing to do. He said exactly what we have been saying and exactly what we will continue to say," he said.

Thousands take part in anti-war protests

A demonstrator joins thousands of people as they protest in London to mark the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war.

Thousands of anti-war protesters have marched in Britain and the United States to mark the fifth anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq.

They took to the streets in London and the Scottish city of Glasgow, demanding that British troops pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

A spokesman for the Stop The War coalition, which organised the marches, says five years after the invasion of Iraq, the world had become "a much more dangerous place."

"Estimates suggest as many as one million people have died violent deaths as a result of the occupation of Iraq," spokesman Paul Collins said.

He said Prime Minister Gordon Brown was sending more troops to Afghanistan and claimed "this hidden war is fast becoming a disaster mirroring Iraq."

But the Foreign Office disputed Stop the War's conclusions.

"In Iraq, there is clear evidence we are making steady progress, particularly in terms of security," a spokesman told Reuters.

"In Afghanistan NATO forces are winning the struggle against the Taliban."

Organisers estimated that the London march had attracted up to 40,000 protesters, although police put the figure at 10,000.

In Glasgow the demonstration attracted several hundred protesters.

US protest

Another protest in the United States has drawn thousands of people, led by veterans from various conflicts, holding coffins draped with the US flag.

Police said about 2,000 protesters, most of them young, marched down Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, denouncing President George W Bush and calling for an end to the conflict.

Organisers put the figure at 10,000, and hope several California politicians and actors will gather for the final part of the march on Sunset Boulevard.

The Australian branch of the Stop The War Coalition is planning a demonstration in Sydney today.

Hundreds rally for Iraq troop withdrawal

ABOUT 200 people rallied in central Sydney yesterday calling for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraq.

Speakers at the rally in Belmore Park, to mark the coming fifth anniversary of the invasion, said the pledge by the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, to withdraw 500 combat troops from Iraq did not go far enough.

A spokesman for the Stop the War Coalition, Alex Bainbridge, said 1 million people had been killed since the war began, and all troops needed to be withdrawn. "This war is a crime, and we need to end it," he told the rally. Mr Rudd also needed to end his support for the war in Afghanistan.

A peace campaigner, Donna Mulhearn, who travelled to Iraq to be a human shield before the war started, said Australia needed to apologise to the Iraqi people. She also questioned whether Australian athletes should compete at the Beijing Olympics after China's crackdown in Tibet.

The Greens senator Kerry Nettle said the Iraq war had a human and financial cost estimated by one US economist at $3 trillion.

Another peace rally was held in Parramatta.