Anti-nuclear weapons protesters scale Australian building

Building of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Photo by Adam Carr at English Wikipedia – Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons., Public Domain)

CANBERRA, Australia — Two anti-nuclear weapons campaigners have scaled the entrance awning of Australia’s foreign ministry and unfurled a banner to protest the government’s failure to endorse a U.N. nuclear disarmament treaty.

Gem Romuld and Papatya Danis climbed the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade building near Parliament House in the national capital Canberra on Wednesday carrying the banner: “Sign nuclear weapons ban treaty.”

Scores of police were soon on the scene but did not appear to be intent on brining the protest to a quick end.

Australia has joined nuclear-armed countries including the Unites States, a staunch ally, in boycotting the first treaty to ban nuclear weapons.

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons opens for signatures on Wednesday at the U.N. General Assembly’s annual ministerial meeting in New York.