Spit Bridge protest organiser arrested for calling for party to celebrate Queen catching Covid

A radical environmental activist has been arrested after urging anti-monarchists to celebrate the Queen’s Covid diagnosis by dancing in the street.

Eric Serge Herbert, 23, was taken into custody over a social media post calling for an ‘anti-monarchy street party’ in Newtown in Sydney’s inner-west this Saturday.

The arrest is unrelated to a snap climate protest he helped organise on Tuesday, which blocked off the Spit Bridge on Sydney’s lower north shore. 

Police allege he breached the bail conditions granted to him when he appealed a 12 month jail sentence for his role in a protest to disrupt the Newcastle coal industry.

But his lawyer successfully argued for Herbert to keep his freedom, saying the post wasn’t serious and he wasn’t actually planning the party.  

Herbert, who is a triplet with his two supermodel sisters Elisa and Renee, called for others to gather on King Street in Newtown to celebrate the Queen catching the virus and ‘rejoice by dancing’.

Eric Serge Herbert (pictured with his twin sisters Elisa and Renee) has been arrested after urging anti-monarchists in a social media post to celebrate the Queen’s Covid diagnosis by dancing in the street 

Herbert outside court in 2019. Police alleged the post breached his bail while he appeals a 12 month jail sentence for his role in a protest to disrupt the coal industry – but his lawyer successfully argued for the 23-year-old to keep his freedom

Police applied for Herbert, who spent Tuesday night in police station cells, to stay behind bars, the Daily Telegraph reported.

The event page urged anti-monarchists to dance along King Street ‘as we imagine the corpse of the oppressors being mangled beneath our feet’.

‘It’s about time we overthrow the queen and the rule of the monarchy,’ the page reads.

‘We need sound systems, lots of glitter, tools to dig up the road, tires of barricades, fire and rage.’ 

Herbert’s defence lawyer Mark Davis said Herbert denied breaching his bail and the post was intended as a joke.

‘I’ll put this bluntly because I think it needs to be – this is a comedic post, it’s an ironic post,’ he said.

Eric Herbert’s sisters Elisha and Renee have 1.6 million and 1.7 million Instagram followers respectively and are each signed by top Australian modelling agency Chadwick

Magistrate Joy Boulos granted Herbert bail, saying the 23-year-old clearly did not intend to go to the party. However she told him to stay away from social media. 

Eric Herbert was given a minimum six-month sentence last year for climbing on top of a train to protest against the coal industry. 

His sisters Elisha and Renee have 1.6 million and 1.7 million Instagram followers respectively and are each signed by top Australian modelling agency Chadwick. 

The 23-year-old has confirmed his involvement in organising Fireproof Australia’s activities but claimed he was not directly engaged in the protests. 

Fireproof Australia protesters have made no apologies for the widespread chaos they caused on Mosman’s Spit Bridge – one of Sydney’s busiest roads – before being dragged away by police. Herbert organised the high-profile protest

The snap protest brought traffic to a complete standstill for more than 20 minutes

The group is paying contractors up to $50 an hour to stick flyers to inner-city homes in a desperate attempt to boost its support base. 

The lucrative incentive is funded by Climate Emergency Fund, a global group that supports activists who are transforming climate politics, according to its website. 

The Fireproof Australia flyers are being distributed in electorates being held by federal Liberals MPs and urge residents join a ‘local response meeting’.

The group vowed to cause more chaos on Sydney’s roads on a weekly basis to get its message across and planned to cause disruption on a daily basis from April 1.