Daily Telegraph: Chain gang chokes city - 25 November, 2006

Berks on bikes ruined last night for thousands of people - by causing maximum traffic gridlock in Sydney. Peak-hour motorists were delayed by more than an hour as several hundred cycling activists -dubbed Critical Mass - blocked the city’s streets and cut off the Harbour Bridge northbound.

The bizarre group - with police escort - pedalled sluggishly from Hyde Park to North Sydney to promote their plea to rid the CBD of cars, stop global warming and free imprisoned terror suspect David Hicks.

But if they thought their multi-pronged campaign would evoke sympathy from motorists, they werey wrong. Stranded motorists expressed their anger to the The Saturday Daily Telegraph, with many missing appointments, engagements or work.

The jam ensured one woman would be late to a pantomime she was starring in. “This is disgusting and I can’t believe the police are endorsing this. Why can’t they protest in a park and get off our streets,'’ Hilda James said. “They are nothing but selfish pests who do not care about anyone else but themselves.'’

Abdul Hoque, 44, was running an hour late to open his Milson’s Point restaurant and was expecting to lose several hundred dollars in takings.

“I think holding up traffic like this in peak-hour on a Friday afternoon is madness. Instead of getting their point across, they have angered every motorist,'’ Mr Hoque said.

Critical Mass spokesman Chris “Moz'’ Mosley said motorists should just learn to cope with his group’s peak-hour protests.

“Every year we reclaim a bit of city roadspace for ourselves for a small amount of time,'’ the New Zealand-born IT boffin from Newtown said.

“The government constantly forgets cyclists and this is our chance to remind them.'’

The group has no head office and only gives out information on the internet to registered members.

It is almost impossible for angry motorists to lodge a complaint with the group - which is why The Saturday Daily Telegraph has decided to publish Mr Mosley’s personal mobile phone number.

Ask him about the rally on 0XXX XXX XXX

Mr Mosley denied that the rally was a deliberate attempt to disrupt traffic.

“There is the odd motorist who gets a bit upset, but it is never reported that a lot of motorists support us, they will give us a smile and a wave or whatever,'’ he said.

While climate change was one excuse given for last night’s protest, another was the state government’s refusal to build a network of bicycle lanes through the city.

Mr Mosley wants the government to spend $96m a year on cycling facilities.

After a hard day of plunging the city into traffic chaos, Mr Mosley and his gang held a celebratory dinner at the Noodle Park in North Sydney.