After a week of peaceful protest, the Occupy Sydney camp has been dismantled by police in an early morning raid.
Reports on Twitter from protesters at the site indicate that police moved in at around 5am when many protesters were still sleeping and with no more than 10 minutes warning forcefully broke up the camp.
Mark Goudkamp has been at Occupy Sydney throughout the week and was on site this morning when police moved in, he spoke to ABC 24 soon after the raid:
The statement from police says that the camp was moved on due to a breach of Council regulations and because the protest extended past the set time period of 2.30pm – 4.30pm on 15 October. That’s last Saturday.
With these points in mind, police have had an entire week to attempt to remove the camp or give formal warning of intention to raid and arrest. Instead they waited until the Sydney CBD was at its lowest point of pedestrian traffic (dawn on Sunday morning), at a time when much of the camp was asleep or just waking, and when no media was present or able to get to the site due to lack of warning.
This is the statement from the NSW Police (emphasis is my own):
More than 100 police have this morning moved on protesters at Martin Place resulting in the arrest of 40 people.
About 5am today, police were deployed to the area as part of Operation Goulding.
The Operation comprised officers from the Central Metropolitan Region and specialist police, including the Operational Support Group, Public Order and Riot Squad and the Police Rescue and Bomb Disposal Unit
A total of 40 people were arrested this morning with four of those taken to Surry Hills Police Station where they are expected to be charged with numerous offences, including assault police.
Seven protesters were issued field court attendance notices for breaching the Local Government Act, whilst a further 29 people received infringement notices for the same offence.
The protesters have been camping within the grounds of Martin Place for a week, since Saturday 15 October 2011. They only had approval to protest between 2.30pm – 4.30pm on 15 October and have ignored repeated police directions to move on.
NSWPF this week attempted to negotiate a peaceful solution to the standoff but were rebuffed.
While the NSW Police respect the right for people to protest and free speech, police maintain the protest breached City of Sydney Council regulations. As the activity continued beyond 4.30pm last Saturday, the protesters were also in breach of the Summary Offences Act.
Protesters were given a final warning to leave Martin Place this morning before police moved in and cleared the area.
This report comes from the Sydney Morning Herald:
Forty people were arrested and 29 of those were issued with infringement notices for breaching a local government act, police said in a statement.
Four people are expected to be charged with assaulting police and seven were issued filed court attendance notices for breaching a local government act.
Occupy Sydney spokesman Mark Goudkamp condemned what he said was excessive police force in breaking up the camp.
“I saw bloody noses, I saw police throwing punches and I myself was put into a wrist lock like I have never experienced before – I was screaming in pain,” Mr Goudkamp said.
“Police were clearly on a mission to get us out of there and they used whatever force they decided was necessary.”
City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore has said on Twitter that “[the] City has no power to shut down protests - @nswpolice shut #occupysydneydown this morning”.
The Mayor has not responded to requests for a full statement regarding the Council’s position or commenting on police using Council regulation to evict the protesters. The Mayor has also not responded requests for the Council to condemn the manner in which police decided to carry out the dawn raid.
Many of those arrested this morning have been released without charge.
Protesters will meet at 5pm Sunday 23 October in the foyer of UTS on Broadway to discuss next steps.
Featured image is female police officer forcefully pushing back photographers following arrests on evening of Saturday 23 October.
1 Comment
[...] They only had approval to protest between 2.30pm – 4.30pm on 15 October” which means, as Kate Ausburn points out, they had an entire week to warn the group. Why were there at least 20 police officers standing [...]