It comes as one of the lead protagonists in the Adani protests, Ben Pennings, crowdfunded $130,000 for his legal fight against the company which he said could take two years to resolve and mean up to six weeks in court.

Frontline Action Against Coal, have released a video of an Adani contractor getting aggressive with an activist and pushing him, but it’s unclear whether the allegations of punches were correct.

FLAC carries out the direct confrontation for the protest movement and its members have previously chained themselves to equipment and prevented coal trains getting to the ports.

Adani said the video does not show the actions that took place before the alleged incident.

“The workers reported the activists had blocked the road so they could not pass. Activists then approached the vehicle, grabbed the bull bar, shook the vehicle and laid on the bonnet. The activists took many photos through the windows and attempted to frighten, intimidate and harass the workers,” Adani said in a statement.

“The worker in the activists’ video was trying to stop the activists from filming and photographing him after they ignored his requests.

“The police have attended the site and have escorted activists who were blocking the road away including one who has come all the way from Adelaide to chain himself to a cattle grid.

“While everyone is welcome to have their own opinions, these should be expressed in a way that is legal and does not prevent others from going about their day to day business.”

Frontline Action on Coal spokesperson Andy Paine said Adani’s claims were “blatantly false and a dishonest attempt to tarnish the reputation of peaceful protestors”.

“Adani has a proven track record of lying,” he said.

“They are even going as far as making these false claims to the Queensland Police. FLAC will be reporting the unprovoked assault incident to police and releasing footage of it.”