On February 14, 2004, as a consequence of a police pursuit, a Redfern police car driven by Constable Michael Hollingsworth rammed TJ Hickey’s bicycle. As a result, he was impaled on a spiked metal fence. The police did not follow proper medical practice and he died in hospital the next day.
This year will be the 10-year anniversary of his death. The Hickey family, with the support of the Indigenous Social Justice Association, will be rallying at the fence line on the corner of George and Phillip streets in Waterloo to mark the occasion.
Each year, hundreds of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people gather at the fence where the incident happened.
The rally will feature speakers from the Hickey family, Aboriginal leaders including Aboriginal tent embassy activists Jenny Munro and Michael Ghillar Anderson, Murri leader Sam Watson, Greens MLC David Shoebridge, South African anti-apartheid activist Kolin Thumbadoo and journalist Jeff McMullen.
The rally will march to NSW parliament house, stopping at Redfern Police Station, Central Station, the Department of Public Prosecutions office and finishing in Macquarie Street.
Along with the permanent demand of calling for justice for TJ, the family calls for two other demands:
• The right to affix the plaque (donated by UTS students) to the fence line where the Aboriginal teenager became impaled.
• An apology by NSW parliament for the illegal killing of TJ and for the continual harassment of the Hickey family.
[The rally will be held on February 14 at 10.30am at the corner of George and Phillip streets, Redfern.]