Extinction Rebellion Otepoti protesters stopped a train carrying coal from leaving Dunedin Railway Station, delaying it for about an hour from about 7.20am yesterday.
It followed a similar protest on Wednesday.
Senior Sergeant Craig Dinnissen said the train drivers reported they had not seen the activists until the train was at a dangerously close distance.
"Climate change activists are again putting people at risk, this time putting 16-year-old youths on the track in hours of darkness.
"Once [the train] starts moving, they can’t actually just stop.
"The protesters are endangering their lives, and the activists that are standing on the platform are encouraging them to endanger their lives as well."
A KiwiRail spokesman said the company would not comment further on what it said in its statement on Wednesday.
"We are always concerned for the safety of anyone who trespasses on to railway tracks or into our terminals, and this situation is being managed by the police."
A police spokeswoman said they were called to the protest at 7.45am.
No arrests were made and police had not issued any trespass notices "at this time", she said.
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These people are putting their futures at stake so that others might have a better future. They are heroes.
Six Extinction Rebellion protesters have been cleared of causing criminal damage to Shell’s London headquarters despite the judge directing jurors that they had no defence in law.
“I believe if I don’t do whatever I can to protect our Earth, to protect life on this Earth, to stop the death and injury that is and will be happening, I’m committing a crime, a really serious crime, and I’m willing to break a window, to paint a message on a wall, I’m willing to break the glass on that emergency button, even if some say that’s a crime".
You sound like the current PM and the police hierarchy......saying it is okay for them to break the law, because in their opinion, they did it for the right reasons. ...
Where does it end?
The law should be the law, FOR ALL. One law, for EVERYBODY.
If you don't like the law, change it. (But not retrospectively, to get yourself of the hook...)
No, heroes are those who fought in the WW's for our freedom, freedom so miscreants like these can 'protest'.
What have the Parents of these young protestors to say about this? It is likely they know and possibly approve of their involvement with Extinction Rebellion. But how does that relationship sit now that the parents have learned their own children acted to deliberately place themselves in the path of a moving train? A train whose driver stated he only saw them at the last minute. I can tell you right now, if this was my son or daughter - love them as I would - they would be recipients of a very serious discussion, focusing on the law, plus parental and personal responsibility. They may not realize it these young people, but they have allowed Extinction Rebellion free agency to manipulate and direct their behavior through the psychology of climate alarmism. Imagine thinking you were a brave risk taking innovator, only to discover there was nothing original about any of it.