Tag Archives: Occupy Melbourne

Footnote to Occupy Melbourne Day 7 – Police Move In… (October 21)

Posted on by

Cover of Occupy Policing report

The Occupy Melbourne Legal Support Team have released a report into the actions of police at the eviction of Occupy Melbourne from the City Square on Friday 21 October 2011: it can be downloaded at http://occupypolicing.org/uploads/Occupy_Policing_2012_updateSMALL.pdf (online readable) or http://occupypolicing.org/uploads/Occupy_Policing_2012_updatePRINT.pdf (printable). (There is also an abbreviated version on Occupy Policing.)

The Report has forwards from Councillor Cathy Oke, Melbourne City Council, and Tamar Hopkins, Convenor, National Police Accountability Network, and Principal Solicitor, Flemington and Kensington Community Legal Centre, and is endorsed by Fitzroy Legal Service Inc., and Flemington and Kensington Community Legal Centre Inc.
See also Melbourne Indymedia.

December 13 – Ferguson the “Fossil Fool” and other matters

Posted on by

So the break didn’t really happen. Last Friday, December 9th, there was the Occupy Melbourne Kids and Carers “Dare to Share” Teddy Bear Protest (http://indymedia.org.au/2011/12/10/occupy-melbournes-dare-to-share-teddy-bears-protest – video at end of this post); then on Saturday 10th there was the Tent Monsters’ (Re-)Occupation of Melbourne (http://indymedia.org.au/2011/12/11/tentmonster-parade-and-march-in-melbourne – see also at end of this post); on Monday Santa and his reindeer borrowed the 7-seater “Bikezilla” to bring the Quit Coal message to Christmas crowds in the Bourke Street Mall (http://quitcoal.org.au/blog/); and this morning Federal Energy Minister Martin Ferguson would have faced a picket at the Hilton Hotel on Wellington Parade if he had used the front entrance:

Protesters line up with 'no coal' and 'clean solar' placards outside hotel

The occasion was a meeting of the Committee for Economic Development of Australia which Minister Ferguson was to address. Failing contact with him, protesters handed leaflets to delegates arriving, where necessary blocking the path of vehicles to ensure their occupants got the message directly:

Delegates being handed leaflets after leaving their taxisCars stopped at the picket line

The protest was organised jointly by members of Climate Action Now groups from Darebin and Yarra living within the minister’s electorate of Batman.
‘
Protesters with placards - 'Fossil Fool Martin' and 'All I want for Xmas is Big Solar'
‘
Clean Solar placards on display
‘
'HRL' model emitting 'smoke'
‘

‘

‘

Occupy Melbourne Ctd – Saturday, 12 November 2011 at Treasury Gardens

Posted on by

Occupy Melbourne defends the Indigenous Embassy
The first General Assembly since the injunction hearings – see reports on OMDigest and Raili Simojoki’s blog – followed the erection of three ‘not-tents’ including one housing a new Indigenous Embassy. Council officers backed by a small number of police duly arrived and warned that a compliance notice would be issued if the ‘structures’ were not removed within first 30, then 45 minutes – later further extended as the subsequent discussion at the GA continued. When they did move in there was standoff, from which they sensibly enough retreated. The GA then continued, and was still in session when the last of the following photos was taken, around 6pm. By this time a number of motions had been voted upon, among which was agreement to defend the Indigenous Embassy against any further attempts to remove it. At time of writing, the latest word from OM on Twitter is that people were settling down for a night under the stars…
`
Welcome to OM banner on grass
`
Erecting marquees
`
Robbie Thorpe spoke at the start of the first session of the GA, announcing the establishment of the Embassy and inviting OM participants to furnish themselves with Aboriginal Passports, amongst other things as a defence against the imposition of jurisdiction that Indigenous Australians did not recognise:

Robhie Thorpe holding up passport

There was a steady stream of applicants:
OM participant signing for passport
`
The GA in session:
Overview of GA session 1
`
The council arrives:
Council officers and police arriving
`
Negotiation:
Council compliance officer faced by OM including Robbie Thorpe
‘
Some time later, the council officers returned with more police, some equipped with cameras, and as we said before, there was a standoff of some minutes before an official retreat:
Aboriginal flag prominent in standoff at Embassy
`
Another view, including uniformed police officer with camera
`
Expressions of victory:
`
The standoff coming to an end
`
The council and police withdraw:

Council officer etc retreat
`
Followed by the Aboriginal flag:
`
Aboriginal flag displayed as council officers etc withdraw
`
Conference of council and police:
`
Police and council officers confer at distance
……….

The GA resumed, and resolved to defend the Embassy:
Overwhelming show of hands support for vote
`
This was the position at 6pm.
Some more from the afternoon:
`
Group making music
`
Dog attending GA
`
Placard held up to traffic - We don't want ca$h, we want change!

“OM”
Occupier with placard on her back - We are the 99% etc inside Sanskrit 'OM"
…..

Updates should be sought on the Occupy Melbourne website and related social media, as well as Melbourne Indymedia [14 nov - there is a detailed account of the GA plus ongoing discussion on Melbourne Indymedia here]:

http://occupymelbourne.org/

http://www.facebook.com/occupymelb?sk=wall

http://twitter.com/#!/occupymelbourne

http://omdigest.org/

http://indymedia.org.au/melbourne