Police attack Camp Platypus

Issue 

Jim McIlroy, Brisbane

At dawn on July 12, 130 police officers invaded the site of Camp Platypus on the banks of the Obi Obi Creek, in the small Sunshine Coast hinterland town of Maleny, to evict 60 protesters who had occupied the area of a controversial proposed Woolworths supermarket since June 19.

The police forced the protesters off the site, with hundreds of supporters gathering outside the project area.

Several protesters were later arrested for attempting to sit down in front of trucks delivering construction equipment to the site, as the developer, Uniton, rapidly moved to clear the area of trees and commence digging and pouring concrete.

Protesters have accused the state Labor government of failing to protect the burrows of dozens of platypus that inhabit the site.

Queensland Council of Civil Liberties president Michael Cope accused the police of overreacting, given the number of people on the site and the peaceful nature of their protest.

A further sign of the political misuse of police powers was the fining of at least a dozen passing motorists who honked their horns in support of the protesters. One local resident, Kelly Robson, was fined after being chased down the road by an officer on a motorcycle when she tooted to encourage the protesters.

Platypus Action Group spokesperson John Woodlands said the situation became "very intense" on July 15 when protesters broke through police lines to place themselves between cement trucks and the development, according to the July 16 Brisbane Courier-Mail.

"We want to continue our focus on Woolworths but it really hurt when the cement trucks went through. It is not over yet but it is going to be challenging from here", Woodlands said. He pointed out that some 300 people had attended the protest on July 15, and that there is "a will to keep fighting".

On July 14, site owner Woolworths rejected a $2 million offer by the protesters to buy the land in order to save the site.

[For more information visit <http://www.malenyvoice.com>.]

From Green Left Weekly, July 20, 2005.
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