Jim Dowling
On September 1, I was introduced to the pre-emptive strike Brisbane-style.
Admittedly, it was mild compared to the more than 100,000 dead and many more living in terror and poverty in Iraq. Still, such thoughts were far from my mind as Constable Bruce Jennings pushed my head onto the floor and jammed his knee with the full weight of his 20-stone body into the back of my head.
Though the blood flowed freely, it was the simultaneous bending of my wrists by his friends in blue that caused me to scream in pain. There was no help in sight as the police threw my jacket around my head to cover my bloody face while pushing it down towards my knees.
Outside, the police dragged me by the cuffs cutting into my left wrist, pushed me over the boot of the police car and searched me.
What led to all this pre-emptive violence? My presence at a public debate on a national ID card between our local member, Liberal minister for work force participation Peter Dutton, who supports the proposal for a national ID card, and veteran civil liberties campaigner Terry O'Gorman.
I took my placard, which said "Peter Dutton Supports Terrorism", and a bunch of leaflets with much the same message. I put one of my signs on the floor against the wall at the rear of the room thinking Dutton might see it.
After half an hour, security reacted to the terrible threat of my sign, and two huge guards stood next to me. I offered the closest one a leaflet, which he took, but he was obviously frightened by my presence. I thought this amusing given his size and mine.
As I noticed some people leave during question time, I decided to go outside and leaflet. But the guard motioned for me to leave by the double doors behind me, rather than the main doors.
The doors swung open and there were the police. They grabbed me and all I could say was, "Hey, what's going on here? This isn't Nazi Germany!" It was at about this point that Constable Jennings decided my face needed to be rearranged.
At the police station I was charged with resisting arrest and hindering police. I go to court for a mention on September 28.
When I tried to point out that I had done nothing wrong, Constable Jennings claimed he had two witnesses (the security guards) sign statements that I had yelled out "Dutton, you're a killer". Constable Jennings was most offended when I asked him if he had told them to say that. He was equally offended when I claimed he had bashed me.
Twenty-four hours later my face was still swollen, with a large ugly scab on my nose, my wrist is cut and swollen, my ribs, neck and shoulder are all sore.
In retrospect, the most shocking thing was the way the police treated the violence as nothing. They were laughing and joking outside the police car as I sat inside, face bleeding and hands cuffed. At the station, Constable Jennings wanted to talk about life at Dayboro and soap making. He appeared to not have the slightest concern that he had done anything wrong or that he might get into trouble for it.
Welcome to the brave new world of policing in the age of terror. [Abridged.]
From Green Left Weekly, September 14, 2005.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.