Extinction Rebellion Victoria praised the vandal who caused around a thousand liters of sludge to spill across the track at the start of the Melbourne Cup race.
The incident occurred just hours before the race was scheduled to take place. The damage was discovered at around 1500 meters.
Following the discovery of the damage, the track was inspected by Racing Victoria’s officials.
They deemed it to be safe to race. In a statement, the organization noted that the track was remediated and that no issues were reported during the meeting.
Extinction Rebellion released footage of what appeared to be a person pouring a large amount of oily sludge on the track.
BREAKING: This morning XR was contacted by friends who had dumped 1000 liters of sludge onto Flemington Racecourse ahead of today’s Melbourne Cup activities. Footage of this and a press release are attached. @FlemingtonVRC @XRVicAus @BBCNews @7NewsMelbourne @10NewsFirstMelb pic.twitter.com/hzNv3tL4Le
— XRVicAus (@XRVicAus) November 1, 2022
In a statement, the organization noted that its members were contacted by people who claimed to have dumped the sludge on the track.
They said they support the message of the vandal, who identified himself as a “problem gambler.”
He said the incident was a protest against the racing industry, which he referred to as toxic.
The man referred to the racing industry as toxic and said that the incident was a protest against the organization’s decision to protect the course against climate change.
The Victoria Police confirmed that they were contacted regarding the incident.