BY JASON CAHILL
BRISBANE — On March 26, Books Not Bombs rally continued the success of the March 5 action with students again turning out in large numbers to condemn the government racist war agenda. 600 people from three universities, four TAFE's and 22 high schools went on a vibrant march through the streets of Brisbane in an attempt to show the world that Brisbane students oppose any war in Iraq.
Some students told Green Left Weekly that they faced huge consequences from their parents and schools for attending the rally, but thought that stopping the war in Iraq was much more important than staying at school.
The protest was marred by the unexpected brutality of the police, which until this point has been almost invisible at the anti-war protests. Five students were arrested in total after the police refused to let the protest march on to parliament. The confusion created amongst the protesters was heightened when the police continually refused to negotiate an alternate march route. One high school student that was arrested was simply talking on the megaphone near the police as his brother was being arrested. He was chanting for peace and no violence, referring to the actions of the police in how his brother was being treated. He was asked to be quiet, he refused and was then arrested and charged.
One high school student from Marist Brothers Ashgrove, Sam Hodge, explained that he was there to protest against the hypocrisy of the United States government, and said that since World War Two, the US had been involved in 22 wars and he didn't want to one day have to tell his kids that he did nothing about this one.
From Green Left Weekly, April 2, 2003.
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