police – DISACCORDS

Sydney: Refugee solidarity protestors clash with police outside Liberal Party dinner

11 Nov – Former prime minister Tony Abbott’s sister, Sydney councillor Christine Forster, had her “favourite jacket” ripped as she tried to enter a Liberal Party fundraiser surrounded by hundreds of Manus Island detention protesters.

Riot police formed a human chain to shield guests arriving for a Liberal Party fundraiser from several hundred Manus Island protesters who had formed outside the Friday night event which was also attended by Tony Abbott and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton.

Cr Forster had to be helped through the crowds by police and had her jacket torn in the crossfire.

“Basically a melee broke out, it was a riot,” she said.

“It was an extraordinary situation, it was very unpleasant, it was dangerous for everybody, it was an aggressive, awful, scary situation.

“I’m a local City of Sydney councillor and I don’t want to ever have this kind of stuff happening in my electorate.”

Cr Forster said people should able to walk into an event “unmolested, unassaulted and unattacked”.

“It was shocking to me and it was dangerous. People were trying to punch us, people ripped the jacket off my back … If you want to make your political protest, anyone can make a political protest anywhere in Australia, but you don’t do it like that.”

“It was a very unpleasant, unnecessary, dangerous situation that those people put everybody in,” she said.

“It was a situation that I have never been in and I would never choose to be in ever again. It’s my favourite jacket and it’s shredded sadly and it was shredded off me from behind.

“It was a very volatile and extraordinarily surprising situation to me.”

The protesters were calling for the Immigration Minster to restore services to the now-closed Manus Island detention centre and bring the remaining asylum seekers to Australia.

The Australian Government had officially closed the detention centre on the Papua New Guinea Island on October 31.

On Friday, refugees and asylum seekers on Manus island told the ABC they were “extremely scared” as workers tore down fences around the compound.

The Papua New Guinea Government also put up a notice warning “force may be used to relocate those who refuse to move voluntarily”.

Protesters outside the Liberal Party event at Australian Technology Park in Eveleigh spoke on loudspeakers and harassed and berated guests, with police forced to intervene several times.

Hundreds of protesters came with whistles, pots and pans, shouting “Abbott, Dutton, blood on your hands” and “Shame on you” to the guests who made their way through through the crowd.

Activist Lily Campbell said she was protesting because Mr Dutton and Mr Abbott were “responsible for the siege on Manus Island right now”.

“I think every refugee should be brought here and should be granted asylum in Australia,” she said.

“I can’t believe the state it’s got to on Manus Island,” another protester, Margaret Walters, said.

“It’s just atrocious … they should never have been put in an offshore detention camp.”

Hundreds of people also marched through central Melbourne calling on the Federal Government to assist refugees at the Manus Island detention centre.

The rally began at the State Library before demonstrators marched along Swanston Street.

There were no arrests.

Sydney: Four arrested as protesters clash with police outside Villawood detention centre

25 March 2017 – Protesters have camped outside Villawood detention centre overnight despite the arrest of four people yesterday.

The riot squad was called in at 3.30pm after an initial group of 30 protesters grew to around 70 and began blocking traffic on Birmingham Road.

Police said the group, who were gathered at the detention centre to protest the deportation of a 60-year-old Iraqi man identified only as Saeed, began to impede traffic in and out of the facility.

“This is kind the kind of horrible rise of racism we’re trying to fight here,” Josh Lees, a protester from the Refugee Action Coalition, said.

“We want to see a world of equality and justice not a world of division and hatred and racism.”

Protesters allegedly ignored several move-on directions from police and tried to break a police line, which was formed to allow traffic flow into the facility, just before 7.30pm.

Two men and two women were subsequently arrested.

The protesters allegedly tried to break the police line.

The two women, aged 25 and 29, were later released for breaching the peace.

An 18-year-old man, who was chased down a storm drain before being arrested, was charged with assaulting police and resisting arrest. He was granted bail and is expected to front court on April 12.

A 25-year-old man was issued with a Field Court Attendance Notice for assaulting police.

A police officer suffered minor injuries during the protest.

A small group of demonstrators camped out overnight at the detention centre to continue the protest.

One protester said they were “physically” trying to stop the deportation of the man.

“We’re trying to physically prevent a deportation of man who, if he is deported, his life is at risk,” she said.

“We’re not protesting, we’re actually trying to stop our government from violating international law.”

The Department of Immigration and Border Protection today confirmed Saeed will be deported.

PNG: Police, students clash; 23 injured

8 June – Police in Papua New Guinea fired gunshots Wednesday to quell a student protest demanding the prime minister’s resignation, the government said. The country’s police commissioner said nearly two dozen people were injured, but denied reports that as many as four people were killed.

Students in the South Pacific nation have been demanding for weeks that Prime Minister Peter O’Neill resign because of alleged corruption and mismanagement.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said she had been advised by the Australian embassy that police shot students in Port Moresby, the capital, as hundreds prepared to march from the University of Papua New Guinea to Parliament.

“I know that students have been shot, but we’re still trying to determine whether there have been deaths and how many have been injured,” Bishop told reporters. “We call on all sides to be calm and to de-escalate the tension and certainly call on all sides to respect the peaceful and lawful right to protest.”

Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported that a Papua New Guinea lawmaker told Parliament that four students had been killed and seven wounded.

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Sydney: Man to be charged over vandalism of Police Wall of Remembrance

25 May – A man is expected to be charged over the vandalism of the police memorial in Sydney’s Domain that has been defaced twice in four days.

The wall displays the names of dozens of New South Wales police officers who lost their lives on the job, and is the site of the state’s annual National Police Remembrance Day service in September.

On Friday the NSW Police Wall of Remembrance was marked with scratches and abusive messages.

About 11.15pm, officers found the wall had been desecrated further, with black graffiti on the panels and the ground in front of the memorial.

Police believe both incidents are linked.

Earlier in the evening, the 30-year-old man believed to be responsible was arrested near the pedestrian overpass at The Domain following information from the public.

Police said the man resisted arrest and smashed the rear window of a police car as he was being taken to Day Street Police Station.

He was then taken to St Vincent’s Hospital to be treated for a possible medical condition about 11:00pm.

Officers said they expected to charge the man over both incidents once the 30-year-old was released from hospital.

On Saturday, police said the panels would need to be deconstructed and be professionally cleaned.

Sydney: Top cop demands ‘justice’ after police memorial vandalism

21 May – A ‘sacred’ memorial honouring NSW police who died on the job may have to be removed after a senseless and insulting desecration, police say.

NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione has made a personal plea seeking justice over the vandalism of the Wall of Remembrance in Sydney’s Domain after it was scratched with glass or a rock by a man on Friday night.

‘There is no more important or sacred place in the country to the NSW Police Force, than this memorial,’ he said on Saturday, joining police and community members in expressing their disgust.

‘The person who has done this knows who they are. I am appalled and saddened that the names of our state’s heroes have been desecrated,’ Commissioner Scipione said.

Earlier, Sydney City Local Area Commander David Donohue said the memorial would likely need to be deconstructed and professionally polished, and that police were considering installing security cameras at the site to protect it in future.

They’ve already released CCTV footage of the man they believe was involved, and have collected fingerprint evidence.

Footage shows a man who ‘walked with a distinctive swagger’ who was also seen falling off his skateboard into oncoming traffic the same afternoon, Supt Donohue said.

‘It’s only a matter of time until we apprehend this person,’ he said.

‘This is a senseless act and an insult to all serving police officers in the state of NSW.’

The man faces a malignant damage charge and up to 15 years in jail.

Syndey: Cops Injured In Clash With Youths At Wild Bash In Abandoned Sydney Home

7 May – Police have clashed with revellers at a wild house party in Sydney’s south overnight.

A police officer was hospitalised and a teenager has been charged following the out-of-control party in a vacant house at Gymea on Friday night.

Shortly before 8pm officers attached to Sutherland Local Area Command were called to the property on View Street after complaints about the party, police said.

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Melbourne: Police and Protesters Clash Outside Liberal Party Dinner

8 April – Police have used capsicum spray on protesters outside a Liberal Party dinner to mark the 20th anniversary of the election of John Howard’s government.

However, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is suspected to have avoided the skirmish in Melbourne’s Docklands by arriving by boat and entering the back of Shed 14 behind a police line.

About 150 people gathered outside the Central Pier function venue about 6pm on Friday to protest the federal government’s changes to higher education and the treatment of asylum seekers.

Students, unionists and refugee activists held placards and chanted slogans such as “No ifs, no buts, no education cuts.”

The demonstrators scuffled with police, including about 50 uniformed officers, as well as five mounted police and some Australian Federal Police.

The protesters yelled “scum” and “shame” at guests and jostled them as they arrived at the venue and were ushered around the rear of the venue by security guards.

Some of the building’s windows were broken, with officers using pepper spray on about 20 people, including an ABC cameraman.

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‘Free Transport, Full Communism’: vandals encourage attacks on rail staff

CCTV footage of an assault against a ticket inspector

NOTE FROM DISACCORDS: Funnily enough, we actually don’t know have anything to do with these posters in Sydney, but we are glad to have fans in the city promoting the website.

18 March – Police are hunting a ‘deranged group of thugs’ who are inciting members of the public to physically attack transport officers, ticket inspectors and council rangers.

The cowardly vandals are also urging people to destroy train and bus ticket machines, Opal card readers and parking meters.

Going by the name Free Transport, Full Communism, the anarchist group also encourages public transport passengers to refuse to pay fares.

The group, which police have yet to track down or identify, has been plastering anti-establishment posters near train stations throughout the inner city.

Under the heading “Transport Officers Are Scum” and an image depicting two ticket inspectors with telescopic rifle sights on their faces, the poster refers to an anarchist website called “disaccords” which uploads articles about people rebelling against government.

“Spit venom and throw bricks at Transport Officers, Police, Rangers and every other stooge physically enforcing capitalist law,” it says.

The posters, which have been shared by thousands of Facebook users, have caused alarm among police, state and local government and transport and police unions, who fear people’s lives are at risk.

Rail staff have already been suffering a high rate of violent attacks. About 80 per cent of train guards on Sydney stations have experienced confrontations with violent or aggressive customers, according to a rail union survey.

Head of the Police Transport Command Max Mitchell confirmed rail officials and police in the Joint Transport Intelligence Group were searching for the anarchists.

Transport Minister Andrew Constance was appalled by the posters: “It’s disgusting to see material like this distributed in our community.”

Rail Tram & Bus Union state secretary Alex Claassens described those behind the poster campaign as “grubs”.

Police Association president Scott Weber described the use of violence as cowardly. Police have asked the public for help in finding the group.

One of the group’s posters at Newtown Station.

Sydney: Man arrested at Riverstone after dousing himself and police in petrol dies in hospital

15 March – A man known locally as ‘Bear’, who armed himself with a chainsaw and doused himself and police in petrol before being tasered and arrested, has died in hospital.

The 51-year-old was involved in a dispute with an energy company whose employees arrived to shut down the electricity at his home on Regent St, Riverstone about 11.15am on March 8.

‘Bear’ became hostile at the thought of losing his power and took a chainsaw outside and started cutting down a power pole near his house.

Police responded to the incident and the offender threw petrol over officers and himself as they were talking to him.

Officers then used OC spray and a taser, which ignited the petrol and set him on fire, before they extinguished him at the scene.

‘Bear’ ran back into his house and refused to come out, as police set up a perimeter before he surrendered after 45 minutes of negotiations and was taken to Westmead Hospital under police guard.

He was treated at Westmead Hospital for burns and charged by police during a bedside hearing with burning or maiming using a corrosive fluid, resisting or hindering police in the execution of duty and destroying or damaging property.

He was later moved to Concord Hospital but a NSW Corrective Services spokeswoman confirmed he died today.

“An offender being treated at Concord Hospital has died this morning,” the spokeswoman said.

“Police will prepare a report for the coroner who will determine the cause of death of the 51-year-old man.”

‘Bear’ was well known in Riverstone after living in the area for 15 years.

He owned at least eight rottweilers which were taken by council rangers at the time of the attack.

A police officer from Quakers Hill Local Area Command was injured during the incident.

He experienced petrol exposure to his eyes and was taken to Blacktown Hospital for treatment.

NZ: Gay Cops are Still Cops

12 Feb – Over the past couple of weeks, No Pride in Prisons has placed increasing pressure on the Pride Board, and the Auckland queer community more generally, to ban uniformed police officers from the pride parade. As we now know, the Pride Board chose to disregard legitimate concerns with that institution being included. A common response to these concerns, from uncritical members of the community, has been: “What about the gay cops? Aren’t they a part of our community? Who are you to ban members of the community?”

To that, we ask: What is the queer community? The decision as to whether police can march in a pride parade is the kind of decision which determines what kind of community we are. Are we a community of marginalised peoples? Are we a community which cares about other marginalised peoples? Or, are we more concerned with consolidating the privileges of the most privileged within our ‘community’?

Cops have no place in any queer community made up of marginalised peoples. This is because it is the role of the police to uphold the privileges of the powerful, and maintain the marginalisation of the oppressed. How do they do this? As an institution, the New Zealand Police has admitted that it has an ‘unconscious bias’ against Māori. This is played out in the New Zealand Police apprehending and charging Māori at a rate that far surpasses that of Pākehā for the same crimes.

Police target and oppress other and overlapping marginalised peoples as well. You may have seen police harassing homeless people or people they suspect of being sex workers. No Pride in Prisons has received reports from trans women who have been violently assaulted by police and arrested for the supposed crime of “walking while trans”. The police’s targeting and criminalisation of certain groups is part of what makes and maintains their marginalisation. Community is required so that those on the margins can continue to survive. In other words, the police’s actions make the community necessary. As a result, cops are not and never will be part of a community of marginalised peoples.

Continue reading “NZ: Gay Cops are Still Cops”