Cheney protesters defy police attempts to silence us

Cheney protestors defy police attempts to silence them By Pip Hinman, Sydney

[This article has been submitted to Green Left Weekly and appears here prior to final editing.]

In scenes reminiscent of the police brutality against students who walked out of school against the Iraq war in 2003, hundreds of NSW police and tactical response group (TRG) officers tried to stop protestors from holding peaceful rallies on February 22 and 23 when US Vice President and war criminal Dick Cheney arrived in Australia.

The protests, organised by the Sydney Stop the War Coalition, had been called about two weeks ago when Cheney’s visit was confirmed. The coalition’s focus was on the demand to pull the troops out of Iraq and for David Hicks to be brought home. It had organised a peaceful protest the evening Cheney arrived in Sydney and for the following day as he addressed the Australian-American Friendship Alliance.

But despite two notifications submitted to the police with the legally required seven-day notice, the police informed organisers just two hours before the first protest that the police commissioner had ``disallowed’‘ both. ``The police wanted to be seen to be negotiating, but in fact they had already decided to try to prevent the protest from marching. They had other plans, including using us as guinea pigs for `counter-terrorism’ training purposes’‘, Alex Bainbridge from Stop the War Coalition told Green Left Weekly.

Dale Mills, legal advisor and Stop the War Coalition activist who also attended the negotiations, told Green Left Weekly that unlike most jurisdictions in the Western world, there is no explicit right to protest in NSW law. ``Rather, it is assumed this is the case and protests, including static assemblies and marches, are regulated by the Summary Offences Act. The act allows for people to have immunity from charges of obstruction when a notice is put in to the police with seven days’ notice.’‘

``Once a notice has been put in, the police can oppose the protest by making an application to the Supreme Court for the protest to be `prohibited’‘’, Mills said. ``It seems that the police bungled matters, leaving it too late to make a Supreme Court application. Instead of going to court, they took matters into their own hands by using intimidation to prevent people from marching to the US Consulate from Town Hall.’‘

According to Mills, ``This is the first time this has happened since, at least, 2000, and marks a new low in police trying to avoid the law by avoiding going to court’‘.

Citing reasons such as ``traffic disruption’‘, the police refused to let about 500 protestors from leaving Town Hall and marching to Martin Place, where the US Consulate is located. ``When protestors decided to march, they were beaten, shoved, punched and strangled by tactical response officers. Twelve arrests were made, and one man had to be taken to hospital from the police lock-up because his neck was so badly bruised’‘, Bainbridge said. All but one arrested that evening were charged with assaulting police, resisting arrest and hindering police. They will appear in court on March 15.

Paul Garrett, assistant branch secretary of the Maritime Workers Union, Greens MLC Lee Rhiannon and Jean Parker from the Stop the War Coalition addressed the rally at Town Hall and, after discussing options, led by chair Anna Samson, people voted to take the protest to the US Consulate, by way of the footpath. As one older woman told Green Left, ``I hadn’t been intending to march, but hearing about the police response, I’m now determined to march.’‘

At Martin Place, an open-air speakers’ platform was held, which included Will Sanders (one of the ``Opera House two’‘), and Marlene Obeid and Raul Bassi from the Free Hicks and Habib campaign. All urged discipline and solidarity in the face of the police intimidation. The rally dispersed peacefully at about 8pm, watched by hundreds of TRG officers.

On January 23, as protestors met three blocks from where Cheney was speaking, the police presence at 8am was less obtrusive. They were mainly fraternising with the three Young Liberals who had set up a huge, and expensive, pro-Cheney banner behind police lines.

At about 9am, 150 protestors walked up one block of Essex Street, which was blocked off by a double line of TRG. We were at least two blocks from the Shangli-La Hotel where Cheney was due to speak. An open mike ensured, but before long, hundreds more TRG arrived. It seems the peaceful assembly was too much for the NSW police who had to invent an excuse to deploy them. After surrounding the protestors at around 10am, they snatched three protesters while pushing and shoving others to the ground.

Veteran peace activist Marie McKern was knocked to the ground and, suffering shock and cuts and bruises, was taken away in an ambulance. She told a media scrum from the gutter: ``I just got pushed into the ground and it was terrifying -- there were bodies everywhere’‘.

Two young women, obviously dressed up as part of the satire, were charged with ``impersonating police officers’‘ and trying to disrupt police work by ``directing traffic’‘. They were nowhere near the police lines.

``The police operation was completely out of proportion’‘, Anna Samson told Green Left Weekly. ``Some 1200 police were involved, on foot, or on horses. At one stage, they even brought in a water cannon, and attack dogs were on stand-by.’‘ The NSW Labor Premier Morris Iemma told a media conference in March 2006, that the state had forked out $700,000 on a water cannon to deal with ``rioters’‘, and that it was never going to be used on ordinary protestors.

``Why is the NSW Labor government sanctioning this heavy-handed response?’‘, Samson asked. ``And why did it sign an executive order, last week, giving the US security services the right to bear arms in Sydney?’‘

``Premier Iemma made a serious mistake when he agreed to change the law so that armed US secret service agents can come into Sydney’‘, Rhiannon said on January 22. ``There was no need for the Vice President’s body guards to bring guns. Local police and security personnel have the experience to protect all leading public figures. The Greens are concerned that this hasty change to accommodate Cheney’s gun interest will set a precedent.’‘

``The police are certainly not about protecting our right to freedom of assembly’‘, Simon Cunich from Resistance told Green Left Weekly. ``It’s pretty clear that the police and the NSW government regard us -- peace activists of all ages -- as the terror threat. The NSW police were out to get their Guernseys -- for Cheney, Bush and Howard. But these war criminals’ miscalculation is that people don’t trust politicians, and are increasingly cynical about their motives. So this repression is going to backfire.

``Most Australians want David Hicks back home, and they want the war in Iraq to end. The federal government is trying to make out that we are in a minority: in fact it is them.’‘

``The protestors showed remarkable restraint in the face of the police provocations and assaults. We managed to make our point peacefully, on both days, and we will be continuing defend our right to organise peaceful protests against the war and for David Hicks to be returned’‘, Bainbridge said. ``We will not accept Iemma’s push for a Joh Bjelke-Peterson approach to civil rights. We’re not sending people to kill others.’‘

According to Rhiannon, ``People protesting against the visit should not be the scapegoat for any disruption caused by Mr Cheney’s visit to Sydney. In a democracy people have a right to protest.’‘

``It’s very disappointing that the federal opposition leader, Kevin Rudd, has joined the fray and tried to make out the protestors were the irresponsible party’‘, said Marlene Obeid, also from Stop the War Coalition.

Stop the War Coalition, and other concerned citizens, will be lodging a protest with the NSW government about the behaviour of the police. It has also heard reports that the police pressured the parents of a 16-year old protestor to get him to say he harassed police!

The fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq on March 17 is the Stop the War Coalition’s next major anti-war event. Already the MUA, the CFMEU, UnionsNSW, NSW Greens and Socialist Alliance have endorsed the rally.

[Pip Hinman is an activist in the Sydney Stop the War Coalition and is the Socialist Alliance candidate for Marrickville.]