NSW Police issued 14 penalty infringement notices for breaches of the Public Health Order at a student protest against changes in the higher education sector on Wednesday. Multiple students were roughly handled or pushed by police, as shown in video footage, and law professor Simon Rice had his legs swept from under him while observing the event.
NSW Labor leader Jodi McKay described the police response as "concerning", while Greens MP David Shoebridge said police were "out of control".
Sydney Law School Dean Professor Simon Bronitt said he had been "shocked by the events that occurred". He said NSW Police or the Attorney-General should be seeking injunctions from the courts to prevent protests, rather than relying on hard policing.
"It is before the courts where the legal validity and proportionality of the public health constraints and reasonableness of planned police responses can be assessed," he said in a statement on Thursday. Professor Bronitt questioned tactics that were used at recent university protests, suggesting that demonstrators had been funnelled and contained before they were subjected to strategic arrests and interventions. At a separate protest last month, 21 PINs of $1000 each were issued and riot police were sent to disperse protesters.
"From past experience, these controversial policing practices only serve to escalate tensions and violence in the management of otherwise peaceful demonstrations," Professor Bronitt said. "My immediate concern is for the welfare of our staff and students who are, or may be in the future, on the receiving end of a ‘hard’ style of public order policing."
Redfern Legal Centre's police accountability solicitor Samantha Lee said she was concerned police were using COVID-19 health orders as a form of anti-protest legislation. "The purpose of the COVID-19 public health law is to prevent the spread of disease, not to prevent the public’s right to protest," she said.
She said police had discretion to exercise force and that arrests should be used as a last resort.
Read the full story here (Sydney Morning Herald, 15 October 2020)
Read RLC's statement on the treatment of protesters at the University of Sydney here.
