Brisbane begins work on the 2032 Olympics main stadium at Victoria Park after protesters moved

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Protestors have been moved along and excavation machinery has been moved in as work on the main stadium for the 2032 Olympics got under way Monday, almost five years after Brisbane was awarded rights to the Summer Games.

The Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority took ownership of the inner city Victoria Park site from the Brisbane City Council at midnight, and temporary perimeter fencing was erected ahead of construction on the 3.6 billion Australian dollar ($2.6 billion) Brisbane Olympics main stadium.

There was a heavy security presence again Monday, days after Queensland state police arrested five people and council staff began dismantling protest camp sites on the parklands.

A small group of activists was relocated from inside to outside the perimeter fencing in the parklands just after midnight.

Queensland state Premier David Crisafulli turned the first sod, and said the people had been urging his government to “get on with it.”

“It’s game on — we have a plan to deliver for the 2032 Games and beyond, and today, we get cracking on delivering it,” he told a news conference. “Victoria Park will be the beating sport, cultural and green heart of Brisbane, and a place all Queenslanders can be proud of.”

Crisafulli said he respected the rights of protestors, but not between “excavators and bulldozers.”

Indigenous and environment groups have protested the construction of a major stadium in the heritage-listed park close to downtown Brisbane, saying the green space and culturally significant sites would be lost for future generations in the state capital.

Crisafulli said after construction, more than two-thirds of Victoria Park would be green public space.

Hundreds of protestors had gathered at the site on Sunday afternoon but with dozens of police at the park entrance and patrolling the area early Monday, it was a quiet start on a cool but sunny first winter morning in Australia.

Save Victoria Park organiser Andrea Lunt told Australian Associated Press that protesters were considering their next steps.

“This space with its heritage and its history is such a special asset for Brisbane,” she said. “We’re not an anti-Olympics group, but we don’t support the Olympics in its current form."

The International Olympic Committee last year backed the Queensland government’s 2032 venue plan after several false starts, saying the Brisbane Games were “on the right path.”

Queensland state won the bid to host the 2032 Games and has backing from Australia's government for the construction of venues.

The state government last year exempted Victoria Park from heritage, environmental and planning laws, and has converted it to freehold land. Indigenous, heritage and environmental groups have challenged the construction plans.

Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt said he had received 10 applications seeking to protect a significant Aboriginal site “under threat of injury or desecration” at the park.

Watt said he has declined some applications but is still considering others.

He told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio that cultural heritage declarations were not designed to stop the project, but instead to set out what must be done “to preserve or protect an area from being injured in some way or desecrated in some way."

Five people were arrested Friday after protestors were taken by surprise in camps set up at the site that until Sunday was home to a golf driving range, a popular wedding and events venue, and open parklands.

The five were taken into custody for obstructing and assaulting police officers, a police spokesperson said, adding that one of those arrested was later released without charge.

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