#occupymelbourne

[tysonoleary]

Fair enough?

Photo © Tyson O'Leary 2011

[chaosnewsinc]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: #Dec6 “#OccupyMelbourne woman stripped in public by Police ”

"This morning at 8:45am a peaceful Occupy Melbourne Protester was forcibly stripped of her protest costume and discarded on the ground in her underwear in public.

The individual in question was part of the Occupy Melbourne protest and was dressed in a protest costume made from a converted tent. The significance of the costume was to highlight restrictions placed on protesters staging a 24/7 protest in Flagstaff Gardens.

The protester was surrounded by at least 4 Melbourne City Council officers and 8 Victorian police officers. Her movement was restricted by the formation of officers surrounding her and she was subsequently restrained as officers proceeded to aggressively removing her costume.

At each stage she declared that she did not consent or feel comfortable with the actions of the council and police officers, stating that this was a sexual assault. “This is not consensual”, She said while the costume was being removed

Her requests and declarations were ignored as officers continued to rip and jostle her costume and person. A knife was requested and used by MCC Officers as the Protest Costume was cut from her body with blades. The remaining severed costume was violently torn from her body while the protester herself was choked, then discarded, semi-naked and crying on the ground as Vic police and MCC officers walked away with the costume.

No effort was made to assess her health or wellbeing after the incident nor conceal her disrobed body.

“How would you would feel if this was your daughter standing up for her civil and democratic rights?” asked media team member Sam Castro.

Media Contact: Sam – 0429 569 289

Media Contact: Tal – 0421 652 642

Links:

Viral tent monster hit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKMwigI3mdM

Tent monster video featuring Sarah: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4NEKtYYYk0&feature=youtu.be

Video of the attack:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAkUB7jRb2c

Extended account of events: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSq6tPXJHZ4"~Via OccupyMelbourne.org

[h4x0r3d]

#OccupyMelbourne Tent Monsters - #OWS #Lulz

It's illegal to camp out in the parks in Melbourne, Australia, so protesters decided to wear their tents as clothing. That was pretty funny. source: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=dca_1323063409 :D

[occupiedworld]

Occupy Melbourne has some great humour.

[chaosnewsinc]

Meanwhile at #OccupyMelbourne: Tent Monsters

[chaosnewsinc]

Meanwhile, @OccupyMelbourne: Police Raid Fail. #TheyHaveCookies #OccupyTogether "The last few days have seen Occupy Melbourne develop some very creative tactics to prevent the confiscation of their property by the Melbourne City Council and Police. On Friday 25th of November after the Council served Notice of Compliance on the camp and came down with police protestors took their gear and left the park. However this wasn't enough a police and the police gave chase to the tents! One protestor, Sean Bedlam was arrested for "hindering council officers" whilst sitting on a tarp on the footpath outside the park. The police actually tried to place a bail condition on Sean that he was not to return to the park on the basis "he would just continue protesting". The Magistrate rightfully rejected this on the basis that Sean had every right to return to the park to protest or have a picnic if he so desired!"~Read more: IndyMedia OccupyMelbourne Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/occupymelb

[rboiats-blog]

@TheHeraldSun sinks to all new low! #OMEL

Occupy Melbourne has suffered a baseless attack in today's Herald scum, in which "journalists" (I use the term loosely) are claiming protesters have been supplying youth runaways with drugs and implying acts of sexual impropriety.

"We've had young people actually coming to our workers, as young as 12 and 13, and saying that they've been down at Occupy Melbourne," said on 3AW this morning. 

"They’ve been making statements to our workers around them being allowed to sniff glue when they’ve been staying there."

"Although Supt Wilson was not aware of any "sexual impropriety", he said it was not appropriate for vulnerable children to be camping with protesters."

Yes, we had young people come stay down at City Square & Treasury Gardens with us, youth who have claimed abuse from family members and caretakers, who stated that if we called the police they would leave and go find a bridge to sleep under, we offered them food and a blanket. At no time did anyone directly involved with the Occupy Melbourne protest supply any of these youth with Drugs.

We did not allow any of these youth to "sniff glue", this is not something that was in our control, we spoke to them and tried our best to persuade them not to, but in the end they made their own decision. We tried our best to co-operate with the police but we are not police officers and we are not here to police citizens. We were not able to determine the ages of everyone who came to our camps. We did not hinder the police or DHS in enforcing any of their protection orders when they finally decided to do so.

The fact these youth are on the streets is no one's fault but that of their parents, the youths themselves, Victoria Police and the Department of Human Services, and not that of protesters involved in Occupy Melbourne.

This whole situation should highlight the fact the while Robert Doyle, our supposedly "Honorable" Lord Mayor, has wasted millions on his failed Southern Star Observation Deck and plans to spend $2.3 million on a Christmas tree forest, there is a greater need for that money to be spent in others areas.

The Herald Sun should be ashamed of this rubbish attack. I personally would like to see an apology from all parties involved, including Mr Nottle who not only failed to follow up these claims and speak to the protesters, but has also broken trust with the youths who made these claims in confidence, if these claims were made at all, by speaking to 3AW.

rboiATS

[inothernews]