continuing police campaign against g20 protestors : Melbourne Indymedia

In the wake of the g20 protests last November, the police campaign against protestors continues, with the most recent arrests occurring in the past few days.

It seems likely that police are tapping phones and using other surveillance techniques to track suspects. A permanent team of police officers has been assembled to go through countless hours of footage and photographs from the weekend actions. A number of people have also been "dobbed in", most likely through mainstream media anti-protestor campaigns.

Arrests have occurred at random times, most often at suspects' homes, but occasionally elsewhere such as outside a courtroom. Plainclothes police have been sent to search houses, confiscating clothes, shoes and jewellry or other accessories that people were allegedly wearing on the day, stickers (??), diaries, computers, cameras, other media devices and files, and so on. Yesterday, a friend's house was raided in relation to the arrest of one alleged protestor.

People have been held in custody for anywhere from one or two hours to a couple of days. Police are taking people's photographs, fingerprints, and so on, and often confiscating mobile phones.

Charges are generally along the lines of riot, affray, criminal damage, inciting others, endangering others, occasionally theft. Bail conditions include not being able to speak to the co-accused - though this has been successfully challenged by a number of people - reporting up to 3 times a week, not being able to leave victoria.

There are a number of points to make sure you or your friends keep in mind during this time:

- consider what items you may have in your homes or cars

- consider what you speak about via the phone or on the internet

- keep in contact with friends

- visit http://www.activistrights.org and http://www.stopg20.org and ensure you are aware of your legal rights

- a central defence and solidarity line has been set up as a point of contact for people who have been arrested, know someone arrested, or otherwise have information about a number of things. This number is a contact for a number of things:
+assistance with obtaining legal representation and advice
+getting involved in/information about a wider political campaign around the arrests
+organising fundraising events
+support and solidarity

- a blog has also been set up to explore reflections on and ideas coming from g20 actions, and also to act as a centre for updates on what is going on with arrests and so on. The address is arushandapush.blogsome.com.

- there is a need to start fundraising for legal fees, bail payments, and potential fines. You can find details about where to send/deposit funds raised on the above listed blog.

This campaign of arrests and scare tactics is part of a broader attempt to take attention away from the g20 itself, and from the neoliberal regime that the institution is a part of. Demonising a certain form of protest serves to contain protest into a form that can be easily maintained and subsequently ignored and forgotten. By focusing attention onto so-called "protestor violence" - property damage that in no way compares to the violence supported by ANZ in Iraq; to the damage to the environment, to the inequality, to the food insecurity, to the infringement on civil rights, to the lack of justice, to the danger to people's lives, that flow from the policies developed in forums such as the g20; to the police violence against actual individual people over the weekend at the car action on the saturday night, at the museum on sunday, during the ensuing snatch squad arrests; to police and state violence in countless other areas and forums, like Palm Island, where a policeman murdered an indigenous man.

These arrests are political, and should be responded to as such, with a broad political campaign. At the same time, people need to be careful and stay mindful of their own safety, and the safety of people that they know who may be at risk. We need to support each other through this, and step up the struggle - we need to fight our fear, and learn not to be afraid.

In solidarity.