Let them have grenades!

"Grenades filled with rubber pellets and other so-called ‘less lethal’ munitions have been increasingly deployed, despite being linked to serious injuries and even deaths."
The stinger grenade, "was used in line with its guidelines" in Melbourne.
>>
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/nov/16/police-detonated-a-stinger-grenade-at-a-melbourne-protest-now-two-activists-may-sue-over-their-injuries
#protest #rights #ProtectProtest #WarZone #grenades #violence #citizens #governance #CrowdControl #Australia #LetThemEatCake

The risk of serious injury by police at protests is escalating

"Lawyers and activists say such encounters are representative of an increasingly dangerous use of force at protests in Australia, including the deployment of largely unregulated “less lethal” police tools including oleoresin capsicum (OC) spray, baton rounds and explosive “distraction devices”.

"OC spray was used almost 900 times in NSW in the last financial year. There were at least 2,323 takedowns in NSW in the same year, 54% of them against people who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.“Grab/hold/push/swarm” was the force used most by police at these incidents, recorded 640 times. There were 224 uses of OC spray or foam recorded."
>>
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/sep/27/like-being-stabbed-in-the-eye-the-risk-of-serious-injury-by-police-at-protests-is-escalating-experts-warn
#UsOfForce #violence #harm #governance #ProtectProtest #NSWLogging #activism

Banksy mural of judge beating protester scrubbed from London court

"It depicted a protester lying on the ground holding a blood-splattered placard while a judge in a traditional wig and black gown beats him with a gavel. The stencilled spray painting appeared on an exterior wall of the iconic Royal Courts of Justice on Monday."
>>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-11/banksy-mural-of-judge-beating-protester-scrubbed-off-in-london/105760478
#ProtectProtest #law #parrhesia #RuleOfLaw #protest

Environmentalist Mark Graham barred from Forestry Corp offices after protest

"Justice Richard Weinstein granted bail on the condition that Mr Graham not travel within half a kilometre of the Forestry Corporation offices."

"Justice Weinstein remarked that a Forestry Corporation vehicle was akin to "a red flag to a bull" for the defendant. It's a very volatile situation up there."

"Mr Graham will return to Coffs Harbour Local Court on September 17."
>>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-20/environmentalist-mark-graham-bail-coffs-harbour/105587574
#LoggingAndLandclearing #NSWLogging #LoggingImpacts #biodiversity #CoffsHarbour #climatedisruption #ProtectProtest

SLAPP - wear down and silence critics
"Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) are a tactic used by companies and wealthy individuals to weaponise the courts against those who stand up or speak out for the public interest. These lawsuits are not about justice—they are designed to intimidate, silence dissent, and suppress public debate."
https://www.hrlc.org.au/news/2024/10/31/anti-slapp-laws

"Greenpeace must pay hundreds of millions over Dakota pipeline protests, says jury.
Non-profit said in statement lawsuits like this aimed at ‘destroying the right to peaceful protest’"

"Legal sources have said the case is a classic example of a Slapp – a form of civil litigation increasingly deployed by corporations, politicians and wealthy individuals to deliberately wear down and silence critics including journalists, activists and watchdog groups. These cases, even when the entities suing lose, cause significant legal costs for defendants and can have a chilling effect."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/19/greenpeace-lawsuit-energy-transfer-dakota-pipeline
#PublicDebate #SLAPP #HumanRights #law #litigation #FossilFuels #water #StandingRock #ProtectProtest #environment

"The Burrup Peninsula,
in WA’s northwest, known as Murujuga to traditional owners, contains the world’s largest and oldest collection of petroglyphs."

"Disrupt Burrup Hub claims Woodside’s operations in the area and its proposed expansion could produce billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2070 and damage the ancient artefacts."
>>
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/feb/10/climate-activists-fined-over-protest-outside-woodside-boss-meg-oneills-perth-home-ntwnfb

Murujuga, Rock Art, Heritage, and Landscape Iconoclasm, José Antonio González Zarandona >>
https://www.pennpress.org/9780812251562/murujuga/
#FossilFuels #expansion #ClimateBreakdown #pollution #burrup #Murujuga #petroglyphs #RockArt #Heritage #IndigenousPeoples #iconoclasm #ProtectProtest #disrupt

Australia leads the world in arresting climate and environment protesters
Criminalisation and Repression of Climate and Environmental Protests

"More than 20 per cent of all climate and environment protests in Australia involve arrests, which is more than three times the global average (6.3 per cent)...Australia's arrest rate was the highest of 14 countries in the global study.It's higher than policing efforts in the United Kingdom (17.2 per cent), Norway (14.5 per cent), and the United States (10 per cent)." >>

"Australia's political leaders have joined the "rapid escalation" of efforts to criminalise and repress climate and environmental protest."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-15/australia-leads-world-in-arresting-climate-environment-activists/104721294

Study: Criminalisation and Repression of Climate and Environmental Protests, University of Bristol >>
https://bpb-eu-w2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.bristol.ac.uk/dist/f/1182/files/2024/12/Criminalisation-and-Repression-of-Climate-and-Environmental-Protests.pdf

The Global Warning Report: The Threat to Climate Defenders in Australia
"That EDO report warned of "a worrying proliferation of anti-protest legislation in Australia," The "systemic repression faced by climate activists across the country," and the "unregulated political influence of the fossil fuel industry driving that repression." >>
https://www.edo.org.au/publication/global-warning-report-the-threat-to-climate-defenders-in-australia/#:~:text=The%20Global%20Warning%20Report%3A%20The,fuel%20industry%20driving%20that%20repression.

"A 2024 position paper from the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders that warned of the growing urgency of the "triple environmental crisis of pollution, biodiversity loss and climate change and the global increase in civil disobedience in environmental activism in response to those crises."
https://unece.org/sites/default/files/2024-02/UNSR_EnvDefenders_Aarhus_Position_Paper_Civil_Disobedience_EN.pdf
#HumanRights #ProtectProtest #CivilDisobedience #rights #law #HumanRights #democracy #criminalisation #Australia #FossilFuels #Indusrty #LoggingIndustry #externalities #harm #NSWLogging #biodiversity #ClimateBreakdown #EDO

Australia leads the world in arresting climate and environment protesters
Criminalisation and Repression of Climate and Environmental Protests

"More than 20 per cent of all climate and environment protests in Australia involve arrests, which is more than three times the global average (6.3 per cent)...Australia's arrest rate was the highest of 14 countries in the global study.
It's higher than policing efforts in the United Kingdom (17.2 per cent), Norway (14.5 per cent), and the United States (10 per cent)." >>

"Australia's political leaders have joined the "rapid escalation" of efforts to criminalise and repress climate and environmental protest."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-15/australia-leads-world-in-arresting-climate-environment-activists/104721294
#HumanRights #ProtectProtest #CivilDisobedience #rights #law #HumanRights #democracy #Australia #FossilFuels #externalities #harm #NSWLogging #biodiversity #ClimateBreakdown