Fwd (GLW): Peaceful protest, violent police

["Alan Bradley" <alanb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The following article appears in the current issue of Green Left Weekly
(http://www.greenleft.org.au):

Peaceful protest, violent police

There are scarcely words strong enough to properly condemn the brutal
actions of the Victoria Police against S11 protesters, for these were acts
of savagery the like of which this country has rarely seen.

There was a distinct pattern to police attacks: the favoured tactic was to
use overwhelming numbers and force against small numbers of protesters.
Police never took on well-defended blockade lines, nor did they choose
completely undefended entrance points. They were cowards and thugs, out for
blood.

At 7.15am on September 12, hundreds of police in riot gear ran straight
through a peaceful, seated crowd, who were then set upon by police on
horses. A dozen people were hospitalised, many with broken bones.

That night, 500 police baton-charged a non-violent blockade line of 200,
which was at the time chanting ?peaceful protest, peaceful police?.
Protesters and even camera crews were savagely beaten; 30 people were
hospitalised, including one with suspected spinal injuries.

The following morning, at 7am, 400 riot police again broke through a small
blockade line, hospitalising at least one person.

The final act of the protests was again one of police brutality, an
unmarked police car driving straight through a blockade line and over a
woman who had fallen underneath it. The car then sped off.

Police officials have justified their actions by claiming they were only
responding to protester violence. They are lying.

The best ?evidence? they can come up with is one incident on Monday when,
contrary to police advice, WA Premier Richard Court tried to drive through
a mass blockade line ? and ended up stuck in his car for an hour, his tyres
slashed and his roof slightly dented. Poor Richard must have suffered
terribly.

Other than that, police have produced a list of things allegedly thrown at
them. Even in the highly unlikely event that police officials aren't lying
again, a few marbles hardly justify the vicious and indiscriminate beating
of protesters with batons.

Claims of protester violence are also disproved by the arrest count. During
the three days, only 14 people were arrested, all on minor charges, and
none were processed through the court system. This is less than the number
who would normally have been arrested on Southbank in three days.

Prominent Victorian lawyers, civil libertarians and unionists have joined
S11 protest organisers to call for a full ombudsman's investigation of
police brutality. Civil action is also likely, and should be encouraged.

Any officer guilty of acts of brutality should not only be forced to resign
but should be tried and jailed. Senior police officers, in particular those
responsible for ordering the baton charges, should also be made to pay for
their actions.

But responsibility for the brutality lies not only at the feet of police
operational command. Blame also lies with senior politicians and sections
of the media, who deliberately incited police to greater violence.

At the end of the first day, Labor Premier Steve Bracks and Coalition
federal treasurer Peter Costello gave green lights for police to go in hard
on the second and third days.

Bracks described the protesters as ?fascists? ? but it was the police force
he commands that used storm trooper tactics, not the blockaders. He should
take full responsibility for the force's actions and resign.

As for the mainstream media, they served their corporate masters well.

Rupert Murdoch's Herald-Sun, in particular, outdid itself with weeks of
hysterical and frequently false stories, which created a climate of fear
that could serve as a pretext for police brutality. The newspaper then
hailed that brutality, headlining one page ?A salute to our brave force?.
Its depravity had no limits.

Australia's political and business elite has sought to build up, over
generations, a reputation for being democratic, liberal and tolerant.

The reputation was always a deception ? as the East Timorese and
Bougainvilleans and indigenous Australians well know.

Nevertheless, as long as the repressive, brutal truth was kept far away
from the experience of most people, that deception held.

No longer. At the first serious radical challenge to its dominance in a
decade, the Australian ruling class has responded ferociously. Its tolerant
mask has slipped ? and its real face is hideously ugly.