Howard confronted in Parramatta

BY TAMARA PEARSON

SYDNEY — John Howard faces little chance of re-election if his reception in Sydney's western suburbs is anything to go by — the Prime Minister, wearing his trademark stupid grin, was accosted by 150 demonstrators when he held a meeting in Parramatta Town Hall on March 16.

"People are becoming more than just angry with Howard's revolting attitude towards education, welfare, military spending, immigration and refugees", said Resistance member and protest organiser Luke Fomiatti. "He puts businesses before workers and businesses before society as a whole."

The occasion was coffee and biscuits in the town hall with local Liberal MP Ross Cameron and 300 carefully selected community "representatives".

Members of the public were not allowed in — and protesters chanting "Shame, Howard, Shame" were kept out by police officers.

"Today we expressed the people's anger", Fomiatti said. "It is becoming pretty clear that an alternative is needed."

From GLW issue 441