Peter Lalor was among those attacked by police Monday night. The veteran journalist reports…
PETER LALOR
I was among protestors attacked by police Monday night in Sydney, and while it was frightening, unnecessary and unpleasant to be assaulted with pepper spray, I didn’t understand the full extent of the violence used by police until I saw social media videos the next morning.
We have been attacked again by the usual suspects. Tony Abbott said police should have used rubber bullets and received commendations.
Perhaps a special award can be granted to the police officer who, on seeing a woman convulsing on the ground from the effects of pepper spray, proceeded to spray her twice more.
And then there’s the officers we see repeatedly punching a man they have pinned to the tram tracks.
And the officers who did the same, repeatedly, kidney-punching a protester with a bicycle.
Or the officers who assaulted men praying in a quiet part of the square. Men who’d been given permission to do that by the NSW police.
These police were spoiling for a fight. Some had jaws set, others chewed on gum with an almost manic intensity before attacking. It was like they were itching for a fight.
“We were assaulted on the streets of our town by police itching for a fight”
A woman being treated at Monday’s protest against the visit by Israeli President Isaac Herzog. Picture: Peter Lalor
On Monday night, I met another woman who was knocked to the ground for the first time while trying to give assistance to others pepper sprayed, punched, kicked and then assaulted a second time before she left.
On Thursday I was contacted by a man who witnessed the police assault of the young woman who was having a fit on the ground, he said:
“I was at the protest standing next to the girl who suffered the seizure.
“I was up against a bin so couldn’t move back. There were people rushing past me. To my right I saw a young woman starting to convulse. She then collapsed from her seizure.
“The next thing I saw was police coming toward us. I yelled ‘stop stop, she’s having a seizure, she needs help’. The next thing I know is I am maced in the face. I had crouched onto the ground to protect myself.
“I was then picked up by two police officers and one began shoving me toward the other side of George St. I must have grabbed him to secure myself to avoid tripping over my own feet. ‘Don’t fucking grab me or I’ll throw you to the ground’. I told him not to try that, I couldn’t see and he needed to let me go and sit me down. He did. I was left lying in the street unable to see with no assistance. Another officer then approached me and told me to move on. I said I can’t see, I need help. She walked away.”
Peter Lalor was among those attacked at Monday’s protest. Source: Peter Lalor
Let me tell you what happened.
After the speeches beside the Town Hall there was still some sense that we may be able to peacefully march a few blocks to the gardens and disperse. Already, police had blocked a large number of people from reaching the main protest, and they were boxed in on the other side of the road.
Negotiations about marching continued, but we were stuck between a group of police on the Town Hall steps and the phalanx of officers on foot and horseback who’d blocked us from crossing the road to leave.
Josh (an organiser) was being a bit cheeky, a bit provocative toward the police overseeing the protest, but good-humoured.
“In my opinion, I think we should say this has been a huge success, but I think it would be best if we ended on a positive note and go home,” he said.
Some chanted “let us march”, but it seemed to essentially be all over (bar the chanting).
Josh, an organiser, speaks with police. Picture: Peter Lalor
I was with a 72-year-old woman who’d asked the police how we should get out of there, when suddenly the police charged with the horses and began pepper-spraying people. It was a dangerous situation, the crush was terrible and people were struggling to breathe due to the effects of the poison in their lungs.
Some fell to the ground and had to be helped up. It seemed like all of us were just trying to get out of there and get away, but the police kept pushing, as you have seen.
“I was with a 72-year-old woman who’d asked the police how we should get out of there, when suddenly the police charged”
Protestors went into survival mode, attempting to help the worst affected as we tried to move away without trampling those around us.
Naturally, we will be portrayed as ratbags. Or worse.
The hundreds of thousands of ordinary Australians who marched across the Sydney Harbour Bridge last year were outrageously defamed by the usual suspects and continue to be so in the wake of the Bondi tragedy.
The overwhelming majority of us wanted an end to the slaughter of innocents in Palestine. Nothing more, nothing less.
And then, we find that the most senior politician in Israel, a man who has signed bombs intended for use in the murder of innocent Palestinian women and children, was not only being invited to Sydney, but the streets would be closed to Sydney citizens so he could have ease of access.
“The hundreds of thousands of ordinary Australians who marched across the Sydney Harbour Bridge last year were outrageously defamed by the usual suspects”
Monday’s protest against the visit by Israeli President Isaac Herzog. Picture: ABC News/Abubakr Sajid (above and image top).
You may remember that it took a last-minute plea to the courts to allow the Sydney Harbour Bridge protest, which police and pro-genocide groups were eager to ban, to go ahead.
Australians who want peace had to argue in court for the right to do so on their own streets.
“Australians who want peace had to argue in court for the right to do so on their own streets”
A man who is the head of the state responsible for the slaughter, however, has the red carpet rolled out for him.
Understandably, many Australians were outraged by this and again found themselves arguing in court for the right to make their views known in their city.
The NSW State government and the police were determined to stop us, and this time they won in court.
“A man who is the head of the state responsible for the slaughter has the red carpet rolled out for him”
And then we were assaulted on the streets of our town by police itching for a fight.
Most of us were trying to go home, having accepted that the police would not let us briefly march from the Town Hall to the gardens.
Wouldn’t it have been easier to just allow that to happen?
Doesn’t the Premier hold great stock in social cohesion?
It may have inconvenienced a few drivers for 30 minutes, a right the State Government had no hesitation in granting to a man wanted for questioning over his involvement in war crimes.
Peter Lalor is a journalist of over 40 years’ experience, the last half of them as a cricket correspondent.
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Editor, The Klaxon
