On October 24, five police officers turned up on Jasmine Duff’s doorstep. Despite not having a warrant, Duff claims they insisted on coming into the house to look for her. “They walked into my room as I was climbing out of bed and placed me under arrest,” Duff tells Crikey. “One officer stayed in the room while I stripped down to get dressed, telling my housemate ‘It’s so she doesn’t jump out the window’.”
Duff says she was taken to a police station, shown photographs of herself at the anti-war protest outside the Land Forces Defence Expo at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre in September, and charged with affray. The expo is an international showcase for weapons and military technology manufacturers, described by anti-war demonstrators as a “one-stop genocide shop” that should not be hosted in Australia or supported by government funding (the Victorian government was a “principal sponsor” of this year’s event).
Duff is one of the many Disrupt Land Forces protesters attending hearings today at the Melbourne Magistrates Court. Victoria police have confirmed that 110 people have been arrested for their participation in the protest. While 89 arrests were made on-the-spot at the demonstrations from September 11 to 13, a further 21 people have since been arrested. Many of these individuals were arrested at their homes in a series of “raids” beginning in late October, like that experienced by Duff.
Human rights and legal experts say the handling of these protests — beginning with Victoria Police being granted special powers under the Terrorism (Community Protection) Act 2003 — is part of a growing trend in Australia of disproportionate policing tactics used to stifle protest movements.
Police ‘raiding’ protesters’ homes
As recently as November 19, police squads have raided the homes of people they believe attended the protests. One had just been conducted the same morning Crikey spoke to Zelda Grimshaw, an organiser for Wage Peace who is helping coordinate the legal support for Disrupt Land Forces — although it was “pretty low-key” compared to other instances. Nine officers arrested the individual, who was later released without charge.
“There was another [raid] where 12 police simultaneously entered by the front and back door, terrified the young person who was in the house, and then arrested them on charges of obstruction of road’,” Grimshaw says. “It’s such a low offense, you could send a fine in the mail for that offense and instead they had 12 police officers coming in through their front and back door.”
“They are playing up the intimidation factor as hard as they can.”
It’s a sentiment shared by the Police Accountability Project, run by Inner Melbourne Community Legal (which is providing pro-bono representation for a number of protesters). “We’re concerned with the seemingly unfettered charges that have been imposed on protesters, coupled with what we’ve received as various reports of extensive use of force,” Rory Hudson, managing lawyer for Inner Melbourne Community Legal tells Crikey. “We’re concerned that the police may be using police powers to curtail the right to protest.”
The organisation has been calling for the established of an independent police ombudsman in Victoria, which it says will provide “a way of constraining the overuse of police powers through a functioning, effective and powerful police oversight body”.
Drones, aerial photography aid arrests
Police have used surveillance footage to identify people after the fact, with Duff telling Crikey that during her interrogation officers showed her “photos, taken from a helicopter, allegedly of me in a large group of protesters”.
During home raids Grimshaw and Duff claim police appear to be looking for specific items of clothing worn on the day of the demonstrations (in one case, they even had a warrant to look for a hat).
Grimshaw was arrested on September 10, the first day of the Land Forces protest, and prohibited from attending on the following days. She says she was monitored using a surveillance drone: “They worked out where my apartment was and they had a drone sitting pointing at my bedroom window virtually the whole day to make sure I was there.”
Isabelle Reinecke, founder and executive director of non-profit strategic litigation fund Grata Fund, and says these are just the latest examples of a growing trend of using militarised policing at protests across Australia. “Governments and police really seem to be putting communities on a perpetual emergency footing, and often with little justification”, Reinecke says. “It has a terrible chilling effect on the public sense that they’re free to attend protests … to voice their concerns with government.”
Police conduct could lead to class action
Stories of indiscriminate use of force and police violence at Land Forces began circulating even as the protests were still taking place, and further details have continued to come to light. Reports include people being trampled by police; plastic bullets being deployed at short-range or at head-level; and horses being charged into crowds with no room for people to move away.
Disrupt Land Forces detailed what they believe to be instances of police brutality and human rights breaches in an open letter sent to Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan, Minister for Police Anthony Carbines, Victoria Police chief commissioner Shane Patton and assistant commissioner Luke Cornelius, and Victorian Freedom of Information commissioner Sean Morrison. Organisers say it has not been acknowledged by any of the recipients.
The individual stories are harrowing. One protester claims he was beaten to the ground by an officer using a riot shield, badly injuring his back and requiring hospitalisation. A teenage girl reported that police threw and dragged her along the ground, zip-tied her hands and forced her head into the ground; another girl says officers held her by the throat. An officer discharged capsicum spray (OC spray) directly into the face of a protester who was already restrained.
Some have been injured so badly they plan to take civil action against Victoria Police. Grimshaw says a bigger lawsuit may be on the cards: “I hope that once our criminal matters are all over that we will lodge a class action against the police.”
The Victorian government is currently facing a class action lawsuit over police using OC spray on protesters at the 2019 International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC). Police arrested 107 people over three days, and in direct response to the IMARC demonstrations then prime minister Scott Morrison threatened a legal crackdown on environmental protests and boycotts. Since 2019, most Australian states and territories have passed legislation to further restrict protest.
A potential class action on behalf of the Land Forces activists could find the Victorian government in contravention of its own human rights act (the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006).
Reinecke’s Grata Fund specialises in this type of “gridlock breaking” human rights litigation, and believes we can expect an uptick in communities asserting their legal rights in court. “Legally strong claims that demonstrate in court the way police or governments have acted unlawfully are important.”
In response to questions from Crikey about claims made by protesters and whether it is considering an investigation into police conduct, Victoria Police provided the following statement:
“The behaviour witnessed outside the Land Forces Expo on 11 September was violent and completely unacceptable. Protesters threw rocks and projectiles and pushed crates against police horses which also had an acidic irritant sprayed towards them. Police were assaulted and eggs and liquid irritants hurled at expo attendees. Victoria Police stands by the actions of its officers who showed exceptional professionalism.”
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