Police Blacklist to be Defied by Activists
Four of the Sydney people on the Police Security Blacklist last night challenged the list as unconstitutional, but their legal arguments were rejected by the NSW Court of Appeal, sitting in an extraordinary evening session. Despite losing the legal argument, the four men - Dan Jones, Paddy Gibson, Dan Robbins and Tim Davis-Frank - have declared they will defy the ban and participate in Saturday's anti-war march by the Stop Bush Coalition.
The lawyer for the four, Geoff Kennett, argued that the ban was an unconstitutional restriction of political communication, and that the NSW Police blacklist went beyond the powers of the NSW Parliament. The three Appeals Court justices said that the banning of a limited number of potentially dangerous people from a protest, in a limited area, for a limited amount of time, served the legitimate purpose of responsible government.
Police have recieved unprecedented powers in the APEC MEETING (POLICE POWERS) ACT 2007 of stop, search and detention, and confiscation of items from people, and the blacklist to exclude people from declared areas (a much wider area than restricted areas).
The Police Blacklist is believed to contain the names of 34 activists. On Tuesday 5 more people, who are associated with the FLARE in the void Convergence, were added to the list. "All of the people who are associated with the conference will defy the order,'' said spokesman Rishin Sing in a Herald report.
This morning Daniel Jones told the ABC "This march will go ahead. I think this is going to be a large demonstration and I think this will be a peaceful march," he said. "I think this will be a march that actually will show [Prime Minister] John Howard and [Opposition Leader] Kevin Rudd exactly who the opposition in Australia is. It is the public opinion... which will be represented on the streets of APEC."
Daniel Jones accused the Police list of being disciminatory as it lists people without criminal records and stops the their right of free speech. "This list is not a list of violent people that are threatening," he said. "If it was there would be rapists... on this list. I mean a rapist has more rights in the Sydney Central Business District at the moment than we do. We believe we are on this list for political reasons. We are planning only to have a demonstration, I mean, we've made no secret of that all long."
Back in June 2007 one of the four, Daniel Jones, was approached by Police Intelligence to spy on fellow activists and in return "arrangements" could be made about charges Mr Jones faces over his participation in G20 protests in Melbourne in November 2006. Rather than be co-opted and spy on his mates, Daniel took his story to the newspapers.
Technorati Tags: APEC, Protest, Blacklist, Activist and AgentProvocateur.
Labels: Activist, AgentProvocateur, APEC, Blacklist, Protest
APEC: Undercover Policemen and Restriction Pamphlets
APEC, the 8 day long meetings have Sydneysiders issued with restriction pamphlets in their home ground. The NSW police indicate that they "will do everything in their power to ensure that the public are safe from violent protests during APEC". Will there be an agent provocateur? To this, they do not say.
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NSW Police have hit back at concerns that undercover officers might be planted among APEC protesters to provoke violence.The concerns have been raised by the NSW Greens after Canadian Police admitted planting undercover officers at a protest against a North American leaders' summit in Quebec last week.
Demonstrators claim the undercover officers were trying to provoke violence while Quebec police officials said their officers were mingling with protesters to identify those who might become violent, The Toronto Star reported.
The NSW Greens today called on the NSW Premier to guarantee that there would be no undercover police nor other security agents attempting to provoke violence during APEC demonstrations.
"In light of the admission by Canadian police that the men photographed with bandanas and rocks were undercover police officers, I call on the Premier give a public assurance to the people of NSW that similar tactics will not be employed by NSW Police or other security agencies during the APEC meeting," Greens member Sylvia Hale said.
"I have been concerned about the provocative nature of many of the recent statements by the Premier and the Police Minister and I want an assurance that the police will not be trying to manufacture an excuse for giving their new APEC powers and weapons a workout."
Ms Hale admitted she had no evidence any Australian police or security force would plant "agent provocateurs" in the crowds at APEC demonstrations.
"I don't have any direct proof. I'm definitely not saying that I have any evidence that this will happen."
NSW Police and the State Government have denied that police would provoke violence during the demonstrations.
A NSW Police spokeswoman said: "NSW Police Force does not use its officers to provoke violence in any situation."
Deputy Premier John Watkins said any protester who broke the law would be dealt with in terms of special APEC laws.
"NSW Police will do everything in their power to ensure that the public are safe from violent protests during APEC," he said.
"NSW Police have been working hard with protesters in the lead-up to APEC to minimise the disruption to Sydneysiders."
The main APEC protest is planned for Saturday, September 8, when thousands are expected to gather at Town Hall for a march.
The Quebec provincial police were forced to admit last week that they had planted undercover officers amid protesters after a damning video surfaced on
YouTube, The Toronto Star reported.
The video shows three masked men being confronted by a protest organiser.
The organiser makes it clear the men are not welcomed and tells the crowd they are police officers.
Confronted by the crowd and the organiser, the men - one of whom is holding a rock in his hand - push towards the police line where they are shoved to the ground and handcuffed.
A photo that emerged last week shows the soles of the men's boots adorned by the same yellow triangles that a police officer kneeling next to him has on his boots, the paper reported.
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Sydneysiders to receive APEC restrictions pamphletRelated Story: More APEC restrictions announced for Sydney Residents in 16 postcodes around the Sydney CBD should this week receive a brochure explaining changes about traffic and transport during the APEC summit.
The four-page pamphlet includes maps, access to public venues and contact details.
The Federal Government spokeswoman for APEC, Anne Fulwood, says residents in Bondi will also be letter-dropped.
"The most important parts of that would include road closures and access to their residences and so on," she said.
"That's probably the most important thing during those days when areas might be closed off, for example, on the Sunday in Bondi when Icebergs is hosting Mrs Howard's leaders' spouses luncheon - there are certain restrictions then."
Technorati Tags: APEC, Sydney, Restriction, Police, Protest and AgentProvocateur.
Labels: AgentProvocateur, APEC, Police, Protest, Restrictions, Sydney
Agent Provocateur Revealed
The German goverment uses instigators to validate police presenceAt a G8 summit blockade near Bad Doberan, following repeated media warnings, a so-called "agent provocateur" has been unveiled. This violence provoking state employee has sneaked into the peaceful anti-G8 sit-in action and instigated people to violent deeds.
Apparently, various activists have tried to hold back until this unmasked guy, who showed up and let loose his aggressive temper. He urged people around him to use violence. But eventually some protesters identified this man in black with a policeman.
When the news about this man's identity went round, activists literally mobbed him. The agent provocateur was freed by some Legal Team members from the mess he'd got himself into and he was handed over to his police colleagues.
During the clashes between anti-capitalist globalization protesters and police it had already been cried out that violence by state paid agents provocateurs had massively contributed to the escalation of 2nd June in Rostock.
So far, 200 arrests have been made today, of which 60-70 were arrested in a parking lot near the Rostock Laage airport. Two lawyers were not allowed through but, instead, warned that if they came back they would be arrested. At both detention centres in Ulmen and Industriestr., all lawyers were kicked out of the the lawyers room. An alternative media bus from Amsterdam was seized by police and the driver was physically forced to drive the bus. A Stern photographer was arrested for "inciting violence".
Technorati Tags: G8, Protest, Rostock, Arrest and AgentProvocateur.
Labels: AgentProvocateur, Arrest, G8, Protest, Rostock
