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.