Occupy Melbourne calls for inquiry into police violence

October 21, 2011
Issue 
Protester injured by police at Occupy Melbourne, October 21. Photo: occupymelbourne/Flickr

Occupy Melbourne released the statement below on October 21 following a brutal police attack on protesters earlier that day.

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Occupy Melbourne have called for a full inquiry into unlawful police behaviour amid scenes of police violence on the streets of Melbourne today. The call comes after riot police disrupted a peaceful demonstration in Melbourne’s CBD.

“We call on Premier Ted Ballieu and Lord Mayor Robert Doyle to back a full and independent investigation into the use of unlawful and excessive force by Victoria Police and the Melbourne City Council,” said Occupy Melbourne spokesperson Erin Buckley.

“More than 20 statements have been taken from individuals who have experienced police violence including eye gouging, kicks to the groin, punches to the face, knees to the face and arbitrary pepper spraying, including of minors. One incident involved an elderly woman with a walking stick who was pushed to the ground by riot police,” she said.

Occupy Melbourne’s legal support team also say they have evidence of dozens of Police on duty without name tags or badges, in breach of police regulations and previous assurances from Victoria Police that all officers would be identifiable as required by law.

“It is unacceptable that the kind of violence we have witnessed today can occur in our city without any accountability. That means a full independent investigation is required,” she said.

17 truck loads of personal property were also forcefully removed from Melbourne’s City Square.

13 of these truckloads were instantly crushed. Property included; generators, cooking equipment, backpacks, tents, bicycles, computers, cameras, marquees and other personal items.



“Melbourne City Council should compensate people for the illegal destruction of their property.”

Occupy Melbourne is part of a worldwide movement against the growing disparity between rich and poor, austerity measures and corporate greed. It is a movement for economic and social justice and real democracy.

“The richest 20% of households in Australia have 60 times the wealth of the poorest 20% of Australians. CEOs are getting huge pay increases and banks are posting record profits. We want a fair share for all Australians.”

“The camp where Occupy Melbourne has been for the past week has been dispersed, but the movement against inequality will continue tomorrow.”

Occupy Melbourne will convene tomorrow at 12 noon at Federation Square. Organisers are calling on supporters of equality and peace to join the occupation.

Contacts:

Comments

Unfortunately Victorian police have a "reputation" like queensland police for their "first blood" treatment - usually on helpless individuals - and the leaders pride themselves on "writing their own laws" - after the APEC meeting a few years back - laws were passed by the state government of NSW for police to "do anything they want" - "for any reason" - this happened at the world youth day as well - I believe this is occuring Because authoroties are Geneuinely worried about Economic prospects - the GFC 1 and (the many more) - as there is resource depletion on the horizon (peak oil in other words) kicking in Now and beneath the surface - all the time - as the resource reaches supply scarcity - there is a "plateau" where is is not seen - like a tsunami passing as a mere ripple way out to sea... Right now the USA and the Eurozone Are in crisis - the Euro an artificial animal imposed on europe - (like the GST?) was unsustainable anyway (the US economy as well - now only able to run with 14 trillion sollars of debt) - this is the system - survive at any cost - or debt - as the US defence force Has to be predominant - supporting That fighting force is the real reason why mega growth economics has been perpetuated......2012-2015 is when peak oil really kicks in - and the ,ajor players are transforming the middle east - Centcom et al
a good idea to occupy Central melbourne - as in Cairo.......
They are such hypocrites... supposedly against violence and theft, what they have done here is violence and theft!!!
The way is being swept for the queen's coming on Wednesday to, gasp, encourgae her subjects by riding...oh the novelty of it...the tram
1. Denial 2. Violence 3. Acceptance you are winning
The likelihood of being subject to police violence can be greatly reduced by complying with repeated requests to vacate the area you are trespassing on. Your practice of provoking confrontation and then complaining about being involved in violence is pathetic, although your pet lawyers must have a lot of fun sueing the taxpayers afterwards. Same old rent-a-crowd ratbags just looking for a chance to cause trouble. What a bunch of arseholes.
Must be great to have a week with nothing better to do than to squat in a camp. Other people would have to work or study.
I have seen this police brutality and badgeless unaccountability before. Where is their self-respect? If they believe in what they are dooing, why are they not prepared to stand up and do it with their badges on? And where is our democracy? How can we criticize tyranny in other nations when we have tyranny in our own? There is too much wrong with our societies now. It is the intellectuals and the realists who are seeing it, and the courageous who are trying to do something about it. Until we have opened our eyes and had a look at the inequity, greed and waste in our systems; at the way corporations are ruling the world; and at the skewed and divisive tactics of some of the media, we will be sucked in by the hype and the disastrous consumer machine. Our governments have gone wrong and it is time we saw it and demanded change. Someone has to do it, and those who are trying to are doing it on behalf of us all. Have courage and keep going. Many are behind you with silent support, even if not physically there.
Endless bailouts in Oz and the US, yet another violation of our rights. Add it to the list of gov’t violations of our rights: They violate the 1st Amendment by placing protesters in cages, banning books like “America Deceived II” and censoring the internet. They violate the 2nd Amendment by confiscating guns. They violate the 4th and 5th Amendment by molesting airline passengers. They violate the entire Constitution by starting undeclared wars for foreign countries. Impeach Obama, vote for Ron Paul. (Last link of Banned Book): http://www.amazon.com/America-Deceived-II-Possession-interrogation/dp/1450257437
is it possible that people are finally seeing the reality that is obvious to those that can see with their eyes wide opened....Greenpeace is a scam, Super Annuation is a scam, The Heath Industry is a scam...we are just expendable fodder for the elite and if you try to change it they will just crush you using your own brother that have been brainwashed to do it...the time is coming their time is running out, we will see some amazing things in the not too distant future so hang on to your hats everyone cause there will be NO ONE unaffected. Humanity WIL L prevail.
australia, puppet of america.
We must make a change! Too long has the corporate machine and the government held us down. We need more equality, less greed, the rich steal from us so its time to take it back. We have to show the man how a change must be made to heal our planet of materialist consumer worldviews. We must show how accepting of difference we are by forcibly pushing these ideas on people. All humans are equal, except for The Man and his corporate clones in suits. We dont need specific or well thought action plans before we gather to protest not using our simplified general ideas for complex problems! In fact we dont need to think! Join arms and unite, so what if we put actual great causes back, possibly by years, we will feel right. It'll be easier to bury our heads in our anal canals, create ourselves some oppressors and really be good little victims. Rise up, fight back, or whatever the fuck.
Yes so imagine how many people in the streets when holidays get here! I will be joining in when I can.
About what is happening to them. Ned Kelly sure knew how to deal with these greedy scum. Coppers were as brutal then as they are now!
If this is the only thing you can draw from this story, I'd suspect that if you were not one of the (illegal) anonymous "police" doing the beating of innocent civilians exercising their right to redress grievances with their elected officials and whom said (illegal) anonymous "police" are suppose to protect, you are certainly one of them in spirit. Maybe you should quit trolling and get back to the business of beating down your fellow citizens. To everyone else, sorry for feeding the troll. I just couldn't help myself. He looked so hungry.
Its time someone regulate them. For decades now, they operate above the law, and operate more like a gang of bikers, rather than to the high ethical standards police should have in most civilised countries. Sadly, not much has changed since the early 1990s...
Be very careful what you are protesting against here. What you protest, you become. The after the revolution in Animal Farm, the pigs take control. Socialism, marxism, communism, fascism are different masks on the same face, And are not solutions to an open and “free” society. The police state is here and if this is not proof to you complacent Australians, nothing is. To those in uniform, you are only empowering the elite Saturn worshipers. Your uniform-ity does not empower you, it only degrades you. Elections are scams where you get to vote for different masks on the same face. END ALL “NO CONTRACT” POLITICS and hold these parasites to their promises. This government and its allies are devoid of common sense and morals And the carbon tax is a scam.
the necessarily allianced arc of anti-establishment groups in Australia did not have any traction before OWS. Now they have received a lot of media attention - for a 'movement' that is very smal indeed. There were hundreds at these protests, not thousands. Harsh realities speak louder than any megaphone - the rebellious segments of society benefit as much as anyone from the oligarchy of none. Peak oil, environmental degradation, entirely deregulation economic markets.....etc are all valid issues. Yet this is real life, Australia 2011 - not revolutionary tsarist Russia; not Cairo; not anywhere that had a legitimate claim to overthrow a tyranny. We are all so stupidly rich in this country, except the poor buggers living out bush, and your right to protest is a luxury that should not be abused merely to express your right to protest. Australia has not fared so badly given the plight of the economic elite across the world. 99%? How about the 5 billion that are not living in highly sedentary, wealthy nations? How about instead just riling against the alleged conspiracy that controls our world, we accept that the universe is governed by laws of chaos and change and no 200 people in Melbourne are going to rectify that fact. We can't control the world - but we can try to live best for ourselves. Any movement that is talking about jobs and economics and Bolshevist ideals - when our capitalist economy is still keeping us warm in winter, cool in summer and overfed all the time - is lying to us and ourselves. Our major challenge is energising a group of disheartened youngsters, fed revolutionary ideals sans revolutionary ideas, to actively engage with the REAL SOCIETY around them. The REAL PEOPLE who agree that greed is not good - that people deserve a fair go. We've been supping away at the fat o' the land for many generations now, and the only thing that will change the imbalance is a lot of hard work - so let's get to it! -Rainbow, ADL
yes - but two recent wars ask yourself - did we learn anything - the GFC - did we learn anything ? - its the system darling.....many people know there2s something fishy about a system that only operates a status quo .... its protecting itself first and foremost - change and progress are not as important to it as many may think - is this the reason why people are consciously and unconsciously demonstrating ? the financial and government structure of the world acts to protect itself - that is why nothing changed in the middle east until people started protesting - it is why there was no action on Gaza - and why the US tried to block palestine into the United Nations - its is part of a strategic plan to wear down all dissent through fatigue and economic war (which is fast becoming a factor for THEM !! - peak oil is and energy in general is a HUGE strategic reason for the israeli / palestinian / egyptian stand off - think the suez canal - and iran / iraq etc
growth economics seem flawed to begin with - people earning and living on interest or fictitious capital in the stock market as karl marx said - is not sustainable by definition - only a sustainable system will acieve this - solar /wind energy etc - and agriculture.....not huge militaries....
unsustainable - growth economies need ever increasing production to sustain themselves like a dog chasing its own tail - or pushing a ball uphill.....by its very nature is unsustainable - only sustainable - low or no growth economies can be "sustainable" - those that don"t need increasing amounts of input or energy - ie green economies - not monetary based will survive

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