BY DALE MILLS
SYDNEY — A report criticising police behaviour at the November protests at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Sydney mini-summit was released by the Legal Observers Team, based at the University of Technology Sydney, on February 25.
A press conference, held at Parliament House to release the report, was attended by Greens NSW MLC Lee Rhiannon and Gavin Sullivan from the UTS Community Legal Centre.
The report supports allegations of unreasonable and excessive force by police during arrests, unlawful denial of bail, unlawful detention, unnecessary strip searches and injuries created by the use of police horses.
Almost all the protesters arrested and charged with offences have pleaded not guilty and cases are still continuing. Civil action against the police for compensation is being considered.
Of special interest is what the report calls "pre-policing". This is the use of the media as part of an orchestrated campaign to discredit protesters and as an attempt to justify police violence against protesters in advance of the protest.
In the case of the anti-WTO protests, this was shown by NSW police minister Michael Costa when he publicly calling for the banning of the Indymedia web sites based in Sydney and Melbourne. Indymedia encourages non-commercial reporting of current events and advertised the protests. The sites were referred to as "encouraging violence, mayhem and anarchy". However, an independent investigation by the Australian Broadcasting Authority concluded that the sites did not breach any laws or government regulations.
Further attempts at "pre-crime" occurred when media outlets referred to the demonstrations as being "banned" or "deemed illegal", based on the fact that the police had not issued a march permit.
Based upon the law and court decisions, the report concludes that protesters have a right to peacefully demonstrate, regardless of whether or not the police have issued a permit for a demonstration. Indeed, the word "permit" does not exist in the Summary Offences Act, the relevant piece of legislation governing demonstrations in NSW.
The report examines the use of police horses at demonstrations and recommends an end to their use. At the anti-WTO protests, numerous protesters were injured, some severely, by being trampled on by police horses.
The report expresses concern at the arbitrary use of strip searches of arrested protesters, the only purpose of which was to humiliate detainees. The strip-search becomes, in effect, an extra-judicial punishment for protesting.
The research in the report, as well as the collection of evidence, was carried out by 40 lawyers and law students from around Australia. The full text of the report can be found at <http://www.utscommunitylaw.org>.
[Dale Mills is a member of the Socialist Alliance and a volunteer with the Legal Observers Project.
From Green Left Weekly, March 5, 2003.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.