"What we have seen in the last six months, in particular,
is a ramping up of police hostility towards peaceful assemblies
that goes far beyond anything I've seen in the last ten
years," Brisbane City councillor for the Gabba Ward Jonathan
Sri
said on Tuesday.
The Greens councillor was referring to the actions taken over
recent months by the Queensland Police Service in cracking down on
demonstrations, especially those involving young people protesting
for the release of former offshore asylum-seeking detainees being
held in a city hotel.
Sri understands this escalation in policing firsthand. He told
Sydney Criminal Lawyers that officers recently turned up at his
house at 1 am, serving him with an order to attend court seven
hours later over a protest he wasn't involved in, while in June, he
was arrested at a rally under false pretences.
