The State Government has just announced a new attack on our right to peaceful protest, to reverse the presumption of innocence and criminalise the mere possession of items that police ‘suspect’ could be used to lock on as part of peaceful protest.
But this is just the latest in a long list of attacks on free speech and peaceful assembly, and it’s time to fight back.
Public servants have been told they can’t criticise the government on social media.
Aboriginal activists are racially profiled and harassed by the police wherever they go in the city.
First-time peaceful protesters have been called ferals and extremists, copping heavy fines and being carted away to prison cells just for standing on a roadway.
Brisbane City Council has fined activists for organising protests in malls and public squares, forcing residents to block roads for peaceful assemblies even when they don’t want to.
Coal company lawyers have deliberately bankrupted Aboriginal activists who challenged the desecration of their country through the courts.
Stop and search powers are continually expanded, so that police can now strip search children as young as 12 in public, simply on SUSPICION that they MIGHT be concealing evidence related to a possible crime.
Major party politicians are now calling for new offences carrying harsh fines and jail time for offences like trespass, which already have plenty of existing rules covering them.
Facial recognition databases are being amalgamated and surveillance technology is being expanded to control and deter anyone who might wish to participate in peaceful assembly.
Protest organisers are told they need public liability insurance to hold protests in public parks and squares.
Police have even ignored the proper procedures set out in the Peaceful Assembly Act, which was introduced after the authoritarian abuses of power seen during the Bjelke-Petersen era.
Queensland is gradually becoming more and more like a police state, and if we don’t fight back, it’s only going to get worse.
Join us for a peaceful protest march on the morning of Wednesday, 28 August to defend our right to peaceful protest.
We will gather at the intersection of Queen St and Edward St at 8am (we have to gather on the road because BCC will fine us if we assemble in the mall itself) and march up to Parliament House for a few quick speeches, ending by 8:45am at the latest.
This will be a peaceful, family-friendly event. We will lodge a notice of intention to hold a peaceful assembly with the police, so they will not have the legal power to arrest us.
If you feel like it, please bring along bike locks or bottles of superglue as a symbol of how ridiculous the government’s proposed new laws are.
This march is occurring on the lands of the Jagera and Turrbul Peoples. Sovereignty was never ceded. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.
