Police conduct
Gabrielle DE VIETRI (Richmond) (09:53): I will never forget the sound of explosions detonating in the crowd at Land Forces anti-war protests last year. The media and the Premier were very quick; they piled on and blamed anti-war protesters for violence. But a new report from legal observers at Melbourne Activist Legal Support says otherwise. It confirms that Victoria Police used potentially lethal chemical, projectile and explosive weapons at close range on people who were posing no threat. It shows that the police’s dangerous crowd control tactics started the conflicts that led to arrests. But this is not the first time, because Victoria Police is currently the subject of a class action. Yesterday the courts heard that in 2019 a climate activist was hit while he was unarmed and posing no threat with excruciatingly painful OC spray by a police officer who later remarked: ‘He needed that.’ The right to protest is internationally recognised, but Victoria Police and the Premier are cracking down on protests. They are desperately trying to deter, to silence and to punish. Protest has always existed, and it always will, because protest works. And if it did not, they would not be trying to ban it.