in recent days there have been further arrests and house raids.]

on thursday, a 21 year old man from glenhuntly was arrested. another man was arrested on friday at the invasion day march to the concert in the city. 2 houses were also raided on friday, one during the day and one later that night, one for the second and the other for the third time, by 10 undercover police. both times police had a warrant for an arrest, but no arrests were made.

shit, eh.  once more, the number to call if you’re arrested, or know someone who was arrested, or want to find out what’s happening with solidarity & support, is 0408 307 722.  If you want legal advice: Essendon Community Law Centre: 9376 7929, Western Suburbs Community Legal Centre: 9391 2244, Fitzroy Community Legal Centre: 9419 3744.  stay safe.

Two Charged Over G20 Protests

Julia Medew

(the age)

Three men and a woman involved in violent protests at the G20 meeting in Melbourne last November have appeared in court charged with affray and rioting.

The fresh charges come just days after police released 28 pictures of "people of interest" in their hunt to identify those suspected of attacking police and damaging property.

Police sifted through 10,000 still pictures and 3500 hours of footage, including some from media organisations and the public, to compile the list.

Today two of the people pictured on the list, John Finlayson and David Nguyen, appeared at Melbourne Magistrates Court charged with offences over their involvement in the protests.

Sergeant Brent Scurry from the Salver taskforce said Finlayson, 36, of West Brunswick, who is facing six charges including reckless conduct for throwing bins and bottles at police and intentionally damaging a police brawler van, turned himself into police after his picture was published last Friday. "He walked into the Brunswick police station last week and said ‘I’m your guy’," Sergeant Scurry said today.

David Nguyen, 22, of Coburg, whose picture was also released by police last week, appeared at the same court today charged with five offences including affray and reckless conduct for throwing a bottle at approximately 12 members of Victoria Police.

Two other co-accused, Sina Brown-Davis, 39, of Caulfield North, and Eric Palsis, 37, of Carlton, also appeared at Melbourne Magistrates Court today charged over the protest.

Palsis faces seven charges including reckless conduct for throwing a metal pole at police and escaping from police custody.

Brown Davis is charged with four offences including possessing a prohibited weapon, namely a tonfa - a side-handled baton used in martial arts - and intentionally damaging a police brawler van. Magistrate Duncan Reynolds extended bail for all four to appear in court again on May 11.

another man was arrested today. 

from the age 

Police have charged another man over Melbourne’s G20 riots, taking the number charged to 28.

The 25-year-old man from West Brunswick, in the city’s inner-north, was interviewed and charged on Monday, according to a police statement.

He will appear in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday to answer charges of riot, affray, conduct endangering a person and criminal damage.

Victoria Police’s Operation Salver has been working to find those involved in the violent street protests centred on the G20 summit, which was staged in Melbourne in November.

The summit was a meeting of finance ministers and reserve bank governors from across the globe.

a reminder that there are legal numbers below, & the number for crew organising support is 0408 307 722.  love.

If your photo is in the Age gallery or on CrimeStoppers, these are good places to get advice:

Essendon Community Law Centre: 9376 7929

Western Suburbs Community Legal Centre: 9391 2244

Fitzroy Community Legal Centre: 9419 3744

Don’t panic, and remember: If arrested, "JUST SHUT UP!"

You have a right to remain silent and not answer questions - use it!! 

OPERATION SALVER: A CRACKDOWN ON THE RIGHT TO PROTEST

Protests are an important part of participatory democracy. The aim of the arrests and house searches that have followed the G-20 protests is to intimidate a group of young politically engaged people and stifle dissent more generally.

The laying of charges such as riot and affray constitutes a gross over-reaction by police, in the face of what was overwhelmingly a peaceful demonstration. Police have described their investigation – Operation Salver – as being concerned with ‘the upper end of criminality’. This statement is so exaggerated as to be absurd.  

In fact, the intimidation and mass arrests which have followed last November’s G-20 protests is part of a wider process of the criminalisation of protest and the silencing of political opposition.

The protests surrounding the November meeting aimed to highlight issues discussed at forums such as G-20, where decisions are made about war, poverty, labour rights and climate change that impact on the planet and its people. 

The G-20 protests were widely reported as being a raucous affair that, on occasion, tipped over into violence. Coverage of the protests has often been tinged with hysteria, and rumour has consistently been reported as fact.

In contrast to inflated and often inaccurate depictions of ‘protestor violence’, media coverage has overwhelmingly failed to mention or acknowledge the violence and excessive force used by police over the course of the weekend. 

The posting of peoples’ photos along with the caption ‘Taskforce Salver’ and alongside media articles on the violence of the protests implies that those people are guilty or are implicated in actions, where they may not necessarily be facing any charges.

While police have yet to reveal whether the 28 people are witnesses or stated offenders, they are named on the Crime Stoppers website as ‘most wanted’. This implication of guilt has potentially severe consequences for the civil liberties and rights of those identified. 

We refute the argument of Detective Superintendent Richard Grant of the Salver Task force that ‘Victoria police respect the rights of individuals and the community to protest and express their opinions lawfully’, as on many occasions peaceful protestors were treated with excessive force and prevented from lawfully protesting outside.

In particular, the peaceful protest outside Melbourne Museum on the Sunday was broken up by police with extreme and well-documented violence that left many injured, with one woman so badly hurt she required hospitalisation. 

This media release was written by a collective in support of G20 arrestees.

For further comment contact: Jonathon Collerson 0438136093

This article was written by Stan Winford from the Fitzroy Legal Centre. It was published in the latest ebulletin of the Human Rights Law Resource Centre.

IF I WERE ATTORNEY-GENERAL…

The Right to Protest and Human Rights

If I were Attorney-General, I’d recognise the close interdependence between protest and human rights.

You can tell public opinion is going against protestors when even Bono, the activist lead singer of Irish rock group U2, condemns their behaviour. In the wake of the G20 protests in Melbourne, Bono told the ABC that to ‘argue rationally and emotionally is OK, but not to the point of smashing up the downtown area of Melbourne.’

The protests surrounding the two-day G20 summit on 18-19 November 2006 were widely reported as a raucous affair which on occasion tipped over into violence. Rumours were reported as fact in the often hysteria-tinged coverage of the protests. The News Limited website, for instance, uploaded a story titled ‘Arrests as anti-G20 turns violent’, reporting that ‘Protestors in bandannas hurled flares, horse manure, fake blood and urine-filled balloons.’ In fact it was the Federal Treasurer Peter Costello who claimed that G20 protestors had flung urinefilled balloons, a claim later dismissed by Victoria Police. The story variously described the protestors as a ‘hardcore mob’ and ‘thugs’, unleashing ‘mayhem’ and ‘chaos’ when the protests ‘exploded with violence.’ By contrast, the Human Rights Observer Team who monitored the event observed a ‘series of disparate protests surrounding the G20 meeting [that] were generally peaceful and non-violent aside from a sporadic series of incidents.’

Demonstrations engender debates about their legitimacy, especially when they are characterized by considerable disruption or tainted by violence. It should not need to be said that violence is never acceptable, whether by citizens or by authorities. Violence is antithetical to the protection and promotion of human rights. Violence presents a challenge for the legitimacy of protest. However, representations of violence in the context of particular protests should not tempt us into the wholesale delegitimation and devaluation of protest as a valid form of political expression and a fundamental human right.

In the context of political demonstrations, it is more often the ‘threat of violence’ that is used to justify banning of protests and the criminalisation of lawful political activity. In the lead up to many protests, police and media have vilified protesters in order to create a climate that attempts to justify any future violence against them. Like violence itself, these practices are extremely damaging, as they corrode public confidence in the value of protest, and the importance of the human rights which protect this form of democratic activity.

There are many forms of protest and protests are one form of political behaviour through a spectrum that includes ‘voting, electioneering and opinionating over talkback radio.’ Protesting is underpinned by a number of important human rights, and is sometimes the only means of expression available for those most in need of human rights protection, the politically powerless or voiceless. As one example of this, witness asylum seekers in detention centres sewing their lips together in silent protest.

Australia has a long history of tolerance to and recognition of the right to protest as a legitimate form of political expression. In Law, Liberty and Australian Democracy, Gaze and Jones write:

Public assemblies are essential to the proper functioning of democracy, in situations ranging from election and political party meetings to demonstrations organized to protest about government policies or other issues. The right of public assembly is significant not only for political reasons, but also as an important aspect of respect for individual autonomy, because without the right to express views in public and to call public assemblies for this purpose, the right of the individual to self-expression is very limited. The right of public assembly gives the individual access to a public forum for expression of views and provides a mechanism for individuals to take action as a group. The right to assemble is closely based on the rights to freedom of speech and freedom of association.

A right to freedom of peaceful assembly is part of international law under art 20 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights and art 21 of the ICCPR. The right to engage in participatory democracy ‘without unreasonable restrictions’ is clearly acknowledged by art 25 of the ICCPR.

Notwithstanding this, the rights of protesters are regularly violated in protest situations. While art 9 of the ICCPR prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention, police in Australia commonly use arbitrary arrests and detention, special bail conditions to deny rights to peaceful assembly and other actions which contravene international law.

In this context, the experience of Drasko Boljevic is perhaps not so surprising. On 19 November, Boljevic was buying a drink at a Swanston Street convenience store when a group of men in casual clothes grabbed him and threw him into an unmarked white van. Boljevice was later released after the police realized they had the wrong person. The HRO Team who observed the G20 protests also expressed concern about the use excessive force by police including the use of overhanded baton strikes without warning leading to injuries of several protestors.

We shouldn’t allow protest to be devalued and demeaned through associations with violence. When this occurs, we create the conditions for further human rights breaches. Like the rhetoric of ‘children overboard’ and the treatment of asylum seekers, devaluing the right to participate in democracy through peaceful assembly and other forms of political activity lays the groundwork for violence which is unacceptable in any form and by whomever perpetrated.

Protests are an important part of our participatory democracy. If activism and peaceful protest are under threat, so are human rights. Promoting and protecting all human rights, including the right to protest, is an important and valuable undertaking. Sometimes the two are indistinguishable. Those sweating in the hot sun at Federation Square in a peaceful assembly on 9 December 2006 in downtown Melbourne would probably agree with Bono on this point, who, like them, called for the release of David Hicks.

Stan Winford is a Lawyer and Legal Projects Officer with Fitzroy Legal Service

hi all

check out www.theage.com.au. pictures of all 28 alleged "persons of interest" appear in the gallery. 

The number of arrests has suddenly jumped from 11 to 26? Does anyone have any info? (afterg20 at gmail dot com, or the solidarity support number is 0408 307 722).  & don’t forget that Fitzroy Legal is offering legal support for G20 protesters.

stay safe. love. 

New faces in G20 hunt Matthew Schulz January 18, 2007 12:00am Article from: Herald-Sun

POLICE have released a gallery of "persons of interest" as they continue their hunt for rioting protestors involved in Melbourne’s G20 mayhem last year.

Police are continuing their hunt for protestors who attacked police, destroyed a police van and damaged buildings in a city riot in November.

So far, 26 people have been arrested on a string of charges linked to the protests.

Among them, a Caulfield North woman, 39, and a Carlton man, 37, were charged today with riot, affray and criminal damage.

Police were bitten and suffered broken bones, every window in a police van smashed and barricades and other objects thrown at officers during the riots in the city on November 18 last year.

Others had invaded buildings during the mayhem.

Protestors had converged at an anti-globalisation rally in the city while the world’s financial leaders met at the Grand Hyatt hotel.

Today, a special taskforce released 28 fresh images of people at the protest, including six who they believed could assist police reach further breakthroughs in the investigation.

So far, police had been unable to identify those "key people" associated with the protests, and investigators had given the group nicknames including "balaclava man", "red tutu lady", "blonde boy", "camo man" and "red dress man".

Police would not say whether any of the people they wanted to speak to had broken the law, or were just witnesses to the violence, but most were from Victoria.

Tasforce Salver Det Supt Richard Grant said police continued to review thousands of hours of video footage in the hunt for perpetrators.

"We respect peoples’ right to demonstrate, but the level of violence is unacceptable," he said.

"The general public were appalled by the anarchy and the violence by some at the demonstration."

Witnesses with mobile phones and video cameras had so far helped with the investigation, and he urged others with records of the riot to approach police.

He stressed the taskforce’s focus was on "high-level" criminal activities including serious damage to property and attacks on police.

"I would encourage those people (identified in the photographs) to consider their options and contact the Salver Taskforce

"The taskforce will go for as long as necessary to identify the key perpetrators and bring them before the courts," he said. "We’re in this for the long haul," he said.

 

 

G20 fundraiser trivia night

Wednesday Jan 24, 6.30pm

(cnr Broadway & Abercrombie St, Sydney)

$3/$5 to play.  Donations also accepted.

In the best tradition of primary-school style fundraisers, we’re having a trivia night: kinda like pub trivia, but with less questions about advertising campaigns.  No obscure politico questions, we promise.  There will be prizes.  All money raised will go towards the defence campaign for the G20 arrestees.  For more info or to book a table, email mutineers at graffiti dot net.

The air in the court room is still, as are the people arranged theatrically around the room in a varied order of importance. This room is in direct contrast to the heavy bustle of the foyer where I have been sitting, behind the imposing security measures in place on the front door. Seated in the dock is a man with a jagged black hook beneath his eye, the red bloom around its edges enough to signal it as a fairly recent and very deep bruising. He slouches in his chair beside the guard, looking both confused and disinterested at opposing times. When he looks towards me I attempt a grim and appeasing smile, from one accused to another, but it doesn’t register or interest him, and as he angrily stares I look away.

The court itself is full of a duplicitous tension. The way in which couples of people turn to whisper to each other, conducting business beneath the veneer of the magistrate’s presence, echoes the obvious hierarchy of the courts rules of conduct.

My reflection upon this is broken as the court jerks itself back onto the focus of attention and leaps into business.

The man in the black suit in front of me and to the right of the desk (young, well cut suit, smart black haircut, probably plays football for his old boys association team), who is obviously the representative for the bruised man in the dock, shifts to his feet quickly as he introduces himself, then just as quickly returns to sitting. Almost immediately the police prosecutor does the same. The blonde woman in the middle rises. The magistrate stops her. Points back to the defendant. “Can you repeat that please?” He does so. The police woman does so.

This stattacato burst of action is like a finely timed opening to a well scripted play, establishing scenario and atmosphere. I look back to the bruised man and am reminded that this is no performance – he stares sullenly, with lips slightly parted at the proceedings. Apparently he has committed some offence while out on bail for another offence, and is now in remand. His case is adjourned. He is lead back out the security door of the dock. His life is adjourned until he is called back before the court, apparently.

I didn’t sleep at all well last night. I had some nightmare about not having shaved before going to court, or catching fire or something. A comrade arrives at my door early, carrying two motorcycle helmets and offering me a lift into the city. As we sit in the sunlit back yard having a cup of tea, me in only my underwear (having just arisen from bed), my housemate emerges with a SLR camera and takes a photo of us. We both ask at the same time whether he intends to use it as documentary evidence for something, and then laugh together. The same housemate was the person who answered the door at 6 am, two days ago, as 8 plain clothes police executed their search warrant on my house, overturning my small room and leaving it in disarray as they rabidly chased after whatever ‘evidence’ it was that they needed. Returning home after 6 hours in custody, two Styrofoam cups of water, about sixteen “no comment” answers, ten fingerprints and eight photos of my tattoos, I find almost all of my belongings heaped upon my bed, dribbling off onto the floor. There is no way to describe the way in which I feel that evening.

In custody I spend some parts of my six hours appreciating the visual arrangement created by the intersection between the large solid green tabletop, the blue chair cushioned chair opposite, and the Styrofoam cup of water, which has my last name neatly printed around the edge in carefully cursive letters. I take millions of mental photographs and compose a thousand burning paintings hallucinating off the scuff marks on the plain cream walls. My boots and both my necklaces (which I nearly never remove) have been seized rather politely by the two officers who I am dealing with – I am absolutely freezing in my black jeans and thin white cotton t-shirt. Thank fuck I wore socks without holes in them. All day I think of biting pieces of smart-arsitry which I could deliver upon the cops, and then realise that for once in my life I have a reason to keep my fucking mouth shut. Nonetheless I play out these comments against the cream walls, watching them bounce around between the fluoro lights and the solidly locked door.

In the foyer of the court rooms the same white cotton t-shirt is covered by a silver gray shirt, sensible enough to look reserved, alternative enough to make me feel comfortable. A heavy enamel badge of the red and black star is pinned over where my heart would be, if my heart had been displaced to the right hand side of my chest. Nonetheless it is there. My favourite boots have been seized by the po-lice, and having been horrified at the stupidity of sneakers, which after all, are merely cloth bound to your feet with string, I have replaced them with a fine pair of brown blundstones - the hillbilly slippers. Altogether I feel and appear heavy, like some form of solid combustible. Later in the day, after the brief hearing, my father tells me that I must reserve and control my emotional volatility, for matters where it is appropriate. He knows all too well that I get upset and angry very easily, and suggests instead that I transfer that intensity into rational and calm resistance. I feel completely unable to do so however, and have never been able to explain adequately to my parents the way in which my seething internal anger motivates and drives me, perhaps because it is indeed a purely juvenile force, unrefined by the years of a longer life.

At 19 I am facing the first criminal charges which have ever been levelled against me, for two counts of riot, two of affray, one of criminal damage to police property and one of reckless conduct endangering persons. When I tell my comrade this he laughs as I struggle to keep the broad smile from creeping across my face.  Although it is not a path of action which I would have chosen for myself and my family, I will endeavour to learn as much as I can from this experience as I work through whatever it is which I must now confront. I am determined not only to remain calm about it all, although at heart I feel a deep sadness which I cannot explain, but also to use my experience in a constructive and positive way.

I expect no mercy from the organised forces at play in the morning’s hearing, and I will make no concessions to their efforts to destabilise my polite and reserved manner when dealing with them.

I will gain from this experience, and I will remain determined that what transpires between the organised human forces of our society must be challenged, and that we have a responsibility to remain involved both as a point of resistance and as a point of creation for something better.

I thank everyone who has sent me messages of support, and wish everybody luck with their own personal struggles.

If there is a hell, its fires wait for them, not us.

we’ve gotten a central phone that people can contact to get in touch with some of the people that have gotten together to organise support for those arrested and a political campaign surrounding the arrests.

the phone number is 0408307722.

for anyone that has information regarding arrests, or has been arrested themselves, we are trying to create a fact sheet about what has happened so far, for background that will go towards a political campaign, and also to attempt to learn from what has happened, and build up information that may help people that may be arrested in the future.

if you have been or know someone who has been arrested, you can call this phone for contact numbers and assistance with obtaining legal representation.

please pass the number on to as many people as possible who may not have internet access.

thanks x

January 09, 2007, 01:32pm 

THREE people, including a teenager, have been charged following the violent G20 protests in Melbourne in November.

Detectives charged a 17-year-old youth, a 19-year-old East Brunswick man and a 25-year-old Moonee Ponds woman with riot, affray, conduct endangering persons and criminal damage.

The 17-year-old was bailed to appear in a children’s court in late April and the man and woman were bailed to appear in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on January 11.

The arrests bring to 11 the number of people charged over violence outside the meeting of G20 finance ministers in Melbourne’s Grand Hyatt hotel.

At least 10 police were injured in the street clashes on November 18.

yesterday’s arrest occurred around 2pm, at the person’s home. plain clothes police with id tags attempted to push into his home, until he left quietly. he was taken to the st kilda police station, put into an interview room, and left there for some time before he was interviewed. he was charged with two counts of riot, two affray, criminal damage, and endangering others, and has been released on bail.

this morning, rosalie delaney, already on bail, had her home searched in conjunction with one of this morning’s arrests also.

police are searching the homes of those arrested and taking clothes, diaries, computers and files, accessories, and etc. it is really important that people consider what they might have in their homes, or in the homes of friends that may not be safe either, and that we keep reminding people of this, especially those without access to internet that may not have received information about ways to protect themselves or about their rights.

we are currently compiling information about the arrests that have occurred and charges that have been laid so far. this will be posted on this blog. we will also soon have a central number people can call with information about arrests, or for assistance with obtaining legal support if they have been or might be arrested. i will also post this on the blog.

a second comrade was arrested this morning at 7am. police came to her home, and confiscated her passport, earrings and a necklace. she has been charged with criminal damage, riot and affray, and released on bail. also just had word that someone else was arrested yesterday, and another taken in for questioning. will update with further details when i get them. apparently police are still looking for another two people today.

if anyone has any information regarding arrests or etc, please email afterg20@gmail.com.

A comrade got a visit from the cops at 7.30 this morning but he was not at his house.  They called his girlfriend and dad.  He is with his dad now, has legal advice from Fitzroy legal & is going to St Kilda cop shop now.