Last Sunday, a Colo property in northwest Sydney was stormed by spectacularly heavily armed police with dogs and helicopters towed.
Key points:
- Seven protesters have been charged after the beating, and four face up to 10 years in prison
- Activists’ lawyer says police did not identify themselves
- Police in riot gear stormed a rally on Friday, removing hundreds of protesters by truck
People on the property, some of them members of the Blockade Australia climate activist group, say that in the early hours of the morning they came across two armed individuals near their camp, dressed in camouflage clothes and who refused to identify yourself.
The two men, according to witnesses, jumped into an unmarked car and drove away at high speed, hitting two people in the process, but did not escape immediately.
Police say officers were surrounded by activists as they took refuge in their car, their tires were damaged and “feared for their lives.”
Police said seven men had been charged with crimes such as fighting, assaulting or obstructing police and destroying or damaging property.
So what do we know about the incident and what do the recent changes to the New South Wales protest laws have to do with it?
First of all, who are Blockade Australia?
Blockade Australia is described as an “organizing network” set up in response to Australia’s failure to respond to the “climate and ecological crisis”.
Its stated aim is to “build a political movement that can physically withstand the destructive operations of the planet Australia with disruptive and targeted actions”.
Members have previously been linked to a series of protests, most recently in Sydney in May, when operations at Port Botany were disrupted, a freight train was scaled to Marrickville and a train line was blocked at Tempe. .
What happened on Sunday, according to protesters
Up to 50 people gathered on a forest property, about 80 miles from Sydney.
According to Greg Rolles, present at the time, they were a “loose network of people interested in a secure climate future.”
At around 8.30am on Sunday, a member of the group observed two gunmen dressed in camouflage on a ridge line above the camp.
Rolles says members of the group approached the two men and tried to talk to him. However, they did not move or answer their questions.
“They were trying to act like they were invisible,” Rolles says.
“Then they got up and took my friend away and [one of them] he pulled out a radio and said, “We’re engaged, we’re engaged.”
At this stage, Rolles says there was confusion in the group as they tried to find out who the men were.
Recent reports from VicForests hiring private security to spy on protesters suggested the group could be the case here, Rolles says.
“My instinct with camouflage equipment was that these are private security guards, that was my initial response.
“We even thought it might be a right – wing group that would have found out where we were.
“We are very afraid of who these intruders were on our property.”
At 9 a.m., according to a statement from Blockade Australia, a “big black car went down the road” to the campsite, and the two camouflage officers ran towards and entered the vehicle.
The vehicle then “tried to drive at high speed and hit two people,” says Rolles.
He was then surrounded by members of the group, who, according to Rolles, were trying to find out who the occupants were.
People in the group tried to stop the car, with some in the hood of the car, according to Mr. Rolls.
Blockade Australia members asked the four occupants of the vehicle, who did not have police marks, to identify themselves, but refused, according to the Blockade Australia statement.
Mr Rolles says the car “accelerated” again in a crowd, with people in the hood.
“I think it was a miracle he didn’t kill anyone.”
Mr Rolles denies any suggestion that the vehicle’s tires have been cut or that the tire valves have been removed.
According to the group, about 100 police officers, including a team of dogs, helicopters and uniformed officers, descended on the property and made arrests.
Rolles and the Blockade Australia group have made several claims against police, including that later that day a police officer urinated in front of a 14-year-old girl.
The group also denies any use of violence.
“The police claim made [Sunday] it is untrue that the officers were afraid or threatened. “
“We weren’t the ones who had the weapons.”
And according to NSW police?
New South Wales police referred questions from the ABC to a press release as “some people are now in court, [they] they are not in a position to provide further information at this stage. “
“Around 8:30 a.m. yesterday (Sunday, June 19, 2022), police were conducting a planned search of a property on Putty Road, Colo, when a group of people approached them.
“Police will allege in court that officers were surrounded by a group of people and that the tires of an unmarked police vehicle were damaged, making it impossible to drive.
“Officers attached to the Hawkesbury Police Area Command responded to the incident, as did neighboring commands and specialized resources such as PolAir, the Dog Unit, Public Order and the Squadron. Avalots, Police Rescue, Raptor Squadron and Operations Support Group. “
Police said they were monitoring the Colo area. (Supplied by: NSW Police)
Speaking to the media on Sunday, Acting Deputy Commissioner Paul Dunstan said Strikeforce Guard officers were “conducting investigations” in the Colo area that morning when “a group of people approached them. near a property in the Colo Valley “.
“That group started circling the police as they were heading towards their vehicle, and they pushed, shoved and pushed the police before they got into the vehicle.
“Fortunately, the police managed to get out of the area after a fight and some time passed.
“This activity will not be tolerated by New South Wales police.
“The police who were attacked by this group this morning feared for their lives.”
According to Dunstan’s deputy acting commissioner, NSW police launched the Attack Force Guard to “prevent and disrupt further protest activities that … disrupt the city in June this year”.
On the Blockade Australia website, there is a call for people to join the climate protests in Sydney between June 27 and July 2:
“Converge on Sydney from Monday 27 June to block the streets of Australia’s most important political and economic center and cause a disruption that cannot be ignored. We will meet at the CBD to take part in massive and disruptive actions.”
What do the new NSW protest laws have to do with the arrests?
In April this year, the NSW legislature passed legislation, which includes fines of up to $ 22,000 and / or prison sentences of up to two years, for illegally protesting on public roads, railways, tunnels, bridges and industrial estates.
This was followed by protests that disrupted operations around Sydney’s Botanic Harbor in March.
Of the seven people who went to court on Monday, at least one faces charges of blocking traffic, according to his lawyer, Mark Davis, of Sydney City Crime.
“It simply came to our notice then [using] a blackboard showing a road. He was denied bail. “
The new laws are also expected to outlaw some of Blockade Australia’s planned protests later this month.
“The sinister part of this new law is that it’s a crime to be on the road,” Davis says.
“People could [previously] march to the city, for example. Now that they’ve made this new law, to be on the road, it’s pretty extreme. “
Various human rights, civil liberties and environmental groups condemned the laws as draconian when they were introduced and said they threatened the democratic process.
“The new crackdown on the 2022 Road and Crime Amendment Bill is deliberately targeting protesters, threatening everyone from schoolchildren marching for climate action to anti-war protesters with up to two years in prison and a $ 22,000 fine, “a statement from the Office of Environmental Protection said.
“A healthy environment and a safe climate cannot be achieved without a solid and healthy democracy.”
But the most serious charges facing the seven come from alleged property incidents that occurred on the property Sunday morning, with at least four people facing individual charges that carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in NSW, Davis says.
“These are extremely serious charges,” he says.
“Intimidation, assault on a police officer, fight, which is a particularly heavy charge, usually reserved for [things like] Gang attacks on people: it is punishable and carries a harsh prison sentence. “
The youngest person facing a fight is a 21-year-old woman from Brisbane.
“All of these charges are totally absurd, not only because of the facts of what happened, but also because of the circumstances,” Davis says.
“These agents were not identified.”
Rolles says the right to protest is more important than ever.
“We are in the midst of a climate crisis and we need civil disobedience to help us have a secure future.
“Yesterday was an example of how the system that causes the climate crisis will be protected.”
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