Roberto Jorquera, Melbourne

On October 29, a stall selling Green Left Weekly in the inner-city suburb of Brunswick was ordered to leave by police who had been called by the Barkly Square Shopping Centre management.

Barkly Square has been the location of both GLW and Socialist Worker stalls for many years without any problems. At the end of July, however, the shopping centre management decreed that these stalls were no longer permitted.

GLW seller Vannessa Hearman explained the decision to go ahead with the October 29 stall: “Barkly Square management's attack on us is part of a disturbing pattern around the country. Public space is being reduced and privatised and the right to free speech is being more and more restricted in practice and dissenting views marginalised.”

Before the police arrived, GLW supporters had sold 15 papers and collected more than 70 signatures on a petition demanding that the shopping centre management allow the stalls to continue. Many shoppers expressed shock when it was explained to them that the centre management had banned the stall from a previously public laneway that appears to have been privatised.

Protests to Barkly Square management can be made by phoning Renee Pratten on (03) 9387 8411 or sending an email to <renee.pratten@ap.jll.com>.

From Green Left Weekly, November 9, 2005.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.

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