Notice To Quit protests begin

By Tony Iltis CANBERRA — A weekend of protests aimed at removing US bases from Australian soil, and stopping nuclear testing and Australian militarism, began here on December 1 with a march of 100 people from Parliament House to the US embassy. A ribbon, connecting the two sites, was cut to symbolise the end of the relationship between Australia and the US war machine. At the embassy protesters were about to burn a US flag, when the federal police's Tactical Response Group, armed with fire extinguishers, intervened. Other activities at the embassy included delivering peppercorns (the US government's rent for Australia hosting its military bases), and releasing balloons, one of which was exploded as a mock low-level nuclear test. Speakers outside Parliament House included: protest organiser Denis Doherty from the Sydney Anti-Bases Campaign; Canberra peace activist Michael Denborough; and Kerryn Williams from Resistance and the Democratic Socialist Party who linked the bases' role in gathering intelligence from the Asia-Pacific region for the Australian and US governments, to their support for the genocidal Indonesian occupation of East Timor.

From GLW issue 214