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Police are in a stand-off at the Bolte Bridge after a man climbed one of its concrete pillars and spray-painted a giant Pam the Bird-style graffiti tag onto it.
In a video shared to an Instagram account on Tuesday morning, the man, clad head to toe in black, appears to be atop the bridge’s eastern concrete stack, looking down on several emergency vehicles and the road.
“I’m not coming down until they lower the taxes,” he says, his voice raised and shaking. “I’m f---ing sick of paying that s---.”
The man did not specify which taxes he was referring to.
One inbound lane is closed as authorities try to get him down, with a significant number of police, including water units, in the area. Officers believe the man has been up there since about 3am.
Another video shows the man gleefully swinging his feet up and down while sitting on the pillar, soundtracked by Lesley Gore’s Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows.
In later videos, the trespasser wrote, “Might have a quick nap” and “Wouldn’t mind a blankey, it’s kind of cold”. Shortly after 8am, he posted another video from the top of the stack, saying: “I want a peanut butter and jam sandwich and a glass of milk or I’m not coming down.”
As negotiations enter a sixth hour, police said the intruder is refusing to come down, adding that there was no threat to the public or road users.
The man accused of being behind the original Pam the Bird graffiti is awaiting trial on more than 200 charges that he caused $700,000 of damage by vandalising property across Melbourne.
Jack Gibson-Burrell has pleaded not guilty and is on bail with conditions including that he lives in Geelong with his grandmother, comply with a nightly curfew and not possess abseiling or graffiti-related items. The identity of the Bolte Bridge intruder is unknown.
The mercury dropped to four degrees on Tuesday morning as fog smothered the top of the bridge’s 140-metre-high concrete pillars.
Police spokeswoman Katherine McLeod also told 3AW: “A bird has been graffitied on the bridge, and that person is not coming down. We’re doing our best to get him down.”
The left lane of the Bolte Bridge inbound to Melbourne and the West Gate Freeway remains closed, with speed reduced to 40km/h, according to VicTraffic. A Department of Transport spokesperson said there were delays of around two minutes.
More to come.
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