http://sydney.indymedia.org/ STUDENT STRIKE - Apr 2 2003
Under Cover Police Pepper Sprays Student from the newswire (--> http://www.sydney.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=28802&group=webcast ) Undercover police sprayed a young protestor today and then fled the scene with Legal Observers hot on their heels demanding that they be detained or identify themselves as police. Uniformed police protected and eventually allowed the men to escape after legal observers and a team of citizens bailed them up in an innercity office block lift.... A Legal Observer witnessed what she described as an unprovoked pepper spraying incident during the Student protest today. Two men fled the area immediately afterwards followed by legal observers and camera people - one of the men wearing a Sony Music t-shirt [pictured] had allegedly opened fire with his pepper spray at close range downing a young student protestor. The men refused to identify themselves and were followed by Jennifer and other legal observers, myself and a video camera operator into an inner city office block. They then attempted to flee via a lift but the door was blocked by the team of citizens as they demanded the men either be arrested or identify themselves as police. The men refused to speak and were attempting to shut the door when a uniformed police officer cleared us from the lift door way and allowed the men to escape. My understanding is that this police officer confirmed (to another legal observer) that the two men were undercover police officers and that they had used the Pepper Spray on the student, claiming it to be "reasonable force". One mainstream media report (--> http://sydney.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=28849&group=webcast ) describes a small outbreak that led to a splinter group of about 60 teenagers - many chanting their protests in Arabic - running amok through Sydney streets as they were pursued by police on foot and horseback. Protesters tried to damage shops as they charged through Darling Harbour before some were briefly surrounded by massed police after doubling back into the city. NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Dick Adams described the splinter group who broke away from the largely peaceful anti-war rally at Sydney's Town Hall as "mostly young Middle Eastern males". However, another report on this episode presents a different picture with peer group restraint exercised by some students, but arrests still followed: We ran around in Darling Harbour then back through the city to Hyde Park and down into Surrey Hills. As you'd expect from teenagers it wasn't very organised, but generally the couple who wanted to trash stuff got turned around by others in the group and everyone just kept running away from the cops, who kept chasing them. The arrests started as the group spread out in Surrey Hills. I saw four arrests around Chapel Lane, plus one girl loaded into the paddy wagons who'd been arrested out of my sight. Read More of this Report. (--> http://sydney.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=28822&group=webcast ) Protest Images (--> http://www.moz.net.nz/photos/2003-04-02-student-rally/ ) [ Read More And Discuss | Books Not Bombs Report | Legal Observers Report (--> http://www.sydney.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=28808&group=webcast ) ] .. -- -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Sub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
