Published 5 July 20248 July 2024 · open letter / Palestine Joint statement concerning curtailment of Victorian protest rights at Free Palestine protests Free Palestine Coalition Naarm We, the undersigned political, community, workers, student, refugee and civil groups, express our collective concern with the curtailment of protest rights at the weekly Free Palestine protests held in ‘Victoria’. We endorse and support the Free Palestine protests, attended by thousands over nine months of historic anti-war mass mobilisation. We share Melbourne Legal Activist Support’s assessment that Victoria Police’s attempts to ban the use of a Public Address truck that has been used by organisers of the mass Free Palestine protest rallies each Sunday afternoon since October 2023, and by many of our groups for years, restricts the right of assembly. The groups we represent regularly use a Public Address truck at mass demonstrations. We reject attempts to strip away the right to use a Public Address truck. MALS has stated that Victoria Police imposing harmful, unfair and arbitrary restrictions has unduly impacted rights associated with Section 16 of the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities (the Charter) by the removal of necessary infrastructure, and will unduly affect Deaf rally attendees by restricting visibility of Auslan interpreters. We bear witness to the biased heavy deployment of police at Pro-Palestine activities that points to discriminatory and racial policing of the Free Palestine movement. We raise concerns about the escalation of violence by Victoria Police and the removal of discretionary powers that is a political directive made by the Victorian Labor Government. We raise concerns regarding the unaccountable leeway with which Victoria Police responds to masses of Free Palestine protestors with heavy police presence, physical force, OC spray and unnecessarily deploying divisional, PORT, surveillance and mounted branch officers. We oppose the Australian and Victorian government’s vilification of the Free Palestine movement. We are all part of the movement standing against the genocide perpetuated against the Palestinian people. We are protesting in the streets week after week because of the decisions made in the halls of the Federal and State Parliaments. We demand that there is political accountability at all levels of government for the political directives given that undermine the basic human rights embedded in the Victorian Charter of Human Rights. We demand that the right of assembly is defended and upheld. We demand that attempts to ban the use of the PA truck are stopped. We stand with the movement in fighting against the curtailment of protest rights. None of us are free unless all of us are free. Sovereignty has never been ceded. Undersigned, Free Palestine Coalition Naarm Sitintifada Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance – WAR Islamic Council of Victoria Unionists for Palestine Institute of Postcolonial Studies Victorian Socialists – Palestine Action Group Teachers and School Staff for Palestine Victoria NTEU for Palestine Tamil Refugee Council Latin American Solidarity Network (LASNET) African Solidarity Collective CDMS – Community Defense Marshalling System Wyndham for Palestine Hobsons Bay 4 Palestine Australian Muslims for Palestine Darebin for Palestine Hume For Palestine Melbourne for Palestine Nillumbik 4 Palestine Brimbank Solidarity Group for Palestine Melton for Palestine Wyndham Palestine Action Group Greek Australians for a Free Palestine Whittlesea for Palestine Melton for Palestine NTEU La Trobe Staff for Palestine Monash 4 Palestine Anak Bangsa Merdeka Anak Bangsa Malaysia Elbit Out of Victoria Coalition Socialist Alternative Students for Palestine The Humanism Project Solidarity FILEF Melbourne Photos by Tasnim Sammak, Matt Hrkac, Kenji and supplied. Free Palestine Coalition Naarm More by Free Palestine Coalition Naarm › Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays 4 February 20254 February 2025 · Indigenous Australia Teaching Palestine on stolen Indigenous lands Charlotte Mertens Refusal is not only possible, it generates different worlds. Refusal insists on the possibility of alternative anti-colonial futures and ways of being. 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