Police hassle Canberra squatters

Police hassle Canberra squatters

By James Basle

Canberra — Young squatters in the disused Fortune Theatre have been harassed by police and accused of stealing or damaging hundreds of cars.

In what appears to be a media and police beat-up, some of the 15 or so young people have been labelled "rampaging ferals".

On October 29 at 4 a.m., police raided the theatre. One source told Green Left that the pretext for the raid was that 240 cars had been stolen or damaged and that there were suspects at the theatre.

Three people were taken away, one of whom was arrested for damaging Commonwealth property when he would not go voluntarily. After half an hour of questioning all were released, the charge being dropped.

A second incident occurred on October 30, the night of the Reclaim the Night march. Two people were arrested and charged, one with damaging a police vehicle and the other with damaging Commonwealth property.

A source said that earlier in the day one of the arresting police threw out the belongings of people living at the squat and ripped out the electricity and phone lines.

In the period immediately before the arrests, one of the officers tried to provoke the squatters by calling one of them a "filthy slut".

A police spokesperson told the Canberra Times that on this night 100 motor vehicles were broken into by "rampaging ferals" who had invaded Canberra from Sydney, who "took the town over" and who "oppose everything from Aidex to men".

When the Australian Federal Police are around, try not to look poor or different, or you could be blamed for all sorts of crimes, including imaginary ones.

From GLW issue 79