In 2016 Melbourne Activist Legal Support would like to further our aim to support the progressive community in Melbourne by developing and growing a network of legal practitioners to represent activists who have been arrested for political protests relating to social and environmental justice issues.

We will be developing systems to ensure that busy lawyers will not be inundated directly by activists and will provide an interface between lawyers and people needing their support, as well as providing advice and support as to common concerns often shared by activists and their involvement in the justice system.

Please contact us to register interest and we will be in touch.

Wednesday 22nd July 2015
Melbourne Activist Legal Support (MALS)

On Saturday, 18th of July, 2015, at approximately 12:43PM on the corner of little Bourke and Spring streets, in Melbourne, Australia a MALS Legal Observer had their mobile phone snatched out of their hands by a Victorian Police member from the Operations Response Unit (ORU) during counter-protests to the Reclaim Australia rally.

The Legal Observer was pushed and yelled at aggressively by the police member. The mobile phone was not returned when requested and was later found smashed a short distance away. When asked by a senior officer, the police member in question denied he had taken the phone.

Legal Observers play a critical and well recognised role in the protection of human rights. Legal Observers monitor, investigate, gather information regarding and report on human rights violations. Volunteer Legal Observers are recognised as Human Rights Defenders by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights(1) and as such fall under the protection of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.(2)

This forced confiscation of the phone by police is unlawful and represents a concerning violation of the right to independently monitor police action. Any infringement on the ability to monitor or record the actions of public authorities during public protest events is of serious concern.

Melbourne Activist Legal Support will be submitting a formal complaint to Victoria Police regarding this incident and seeking assurances from Victoria Police regarding the police behaviour toward Legal Observers at future events.

Members of the public or journalists with information are asked to contact the Flemington Kensington Community Legal Centre on fklegal@fkclc.org.au or 03 9376 4355.

The series of images below capture the incident.

Melbourne Activist Legal Support (MALS) is a volunteer organisation that provides legal assistance to groups and communities exercising their right to undertake grassroots political action. MALS provides direct protest support services at major demonstrations: monitoring police engagement with protesters, providing basic legal information to persons at risk of being arrested, and coordinating litigation support in conjunction with law firms and community legal centres.

1 Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (www.ohchr.org)

2 Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/FactSheet29en.pdf)

18 July 2015, Melbourne, Australia

On Saturday the 18th of July 2015 Melbourne Activist Legal Support (MALS) fielded a team of eight (8) trained Legal Observers at the Reclaim Australia and counter rallies that took place near the intersection of Spring and Bourke Streets in Melbourne’s Central Business District.

Legal Observers monitored the actions of Victoria Police and recorded evidence throughout the 5 hour event.

We note that Victoria Police had a large presence and cordoned off the entire intersection in front of Parliament House. MALS acknowledges that Victoria Police efforts were directed at maintaining space between two opposing political groupings on the day in order to avoid physical confrontation.

Areas of concern:

Legal Observers noted several incidents of use of OC foam/spray by a specialist unit of Victoria Police at the event. According to the Melbourne Street Medics upwards of 100 people had to be treated because of the use of this spray. OC spray/foam causes severe burning for several hours, incapacitation and can affect the respiratory system causing breathing difficulties.

A particular area of concern was an incident that occurred at the corner of Spring and Little Bourke Streets at approximately 12:43 PM.  An ad-hoc medic triage station had been set up on Little Bourke Street near the corner. One patient was semi-conscious on the ground and under the care of the Street Medics and waiting for the ambulance. A physical altercation between rival protestors began directly in front of the medic station when Police rushed around the corner and immediately and without warning sprayed into the crowd of 60-80 people present. Street Medics and other volunteers who were trying to keep the medic triage area clear were severely affected by the OC foam as were most people in the area (including journalists and bystanders). The injured person receiving care was again affected by the OC spray.

According to Legal Observers present the OC foam was not directed towards individuals who were threatening police or engaged in violence but instead was directed over and onto the entire crowd of people present. For this reason the MALS Legal Observer Team identifies the use of OC foam in this circumstance as indiscriminate and therefore unlawful.

MALS condemns the use of OC Foam against members of the public who were already injured and medical staff whose presence was made clear to police on a number of occasions before this incident occurred.

In the future as our group increases in capacity we hope to be able to provide more comprehensive assistance in such instances, however we would like to share the following information in the meantime:

We encourage people who want to take further action to immediately record all details from the event, including as much factual detail as possible, and to make duplicates of any footage of incidents depicting inappropriate use of force.

If any individuals or groups wish to submit a formal complaint about police conduct during the event please contact:

Police Complaints Advice Clinic

Flemington and Kensington Community Legal Centre
Phone: (03) 9376 4355
Email: fklegal@fkclc.org.au

& Website

If you would like to make a complaint directly without checking in with Flemington Kensington:

Police Conduct Unit

GPO Box 913
Melbourne VIC 3001
Telephone: 1300 363 101
Email: PSC-POLICECONDUCTUNITCOMPLAINTSANDCOMPLIMENTS@police.vic.gov.au

Check this page on the activist rights website for more information about making a complaint about police conduct.

A new resource for climate activists was launched in May 2015 by Melbourne Activist Legal Support member, Nicola Paris, who runs CounterAct.

The launch was attended by environmentalists, farmers and people involved in the progressive legal community, as well as members of MALS.

CounterAct collaborated with Environmental Justice Australia and the document was intended to strike a chord between accurate legal information, and a real sense of how interactions with police can sometimes play out – whilst giving a realistic perspective of the overstated, but often relatively minor consequences for participating in peaceful civil disobedience protest. It was designed to be approachable for new activists, trying to minimise cliquey activist language.

The resource can be found here, and hard copies are available by donation at Friends of the Earth and Environmental Justice Australia.

We also took a register of interest at the launch for MALS’ lawyer network – a project will be working on in coming months to coordinate and collate a list of lawyers willing to act for activists and civil disobedience protest. If you are keen, get in touch.

By Elizabeth O’Shea