EXTRAORDINARY new powers will allow police to arrest and fine people for “causing annoyance” to World Youth Day participants and permit partial strip searches at hundreds of Sydney sites, beginning today.
The laws, which operate until the end of July, have the potential to make a crime of wearing a T-shirt with a message on it, undertaking a Chaser-style stunt, handing out condoms at protests, riding a skateboard or even playing music, critics say.
Police and volunteers from the State Emergency Service and Rural Fire Service will be able to direct people to cease engaging in conduct that “causes annoyance or inconvenience to participants in a World Youth Day event”.
People who fail to comply will be subject to a $5500 fine.
The president of the NSW Bar Association, Anna Katzmann, SC, described the regulations as “unnecessary and repugnant”
The thin end of the wedge? Nope, this has been quietly happening all over the world. Don’t agree with the ‘majority opinion’? Want to protest about it? You better not - Sep. 11 and George W’s insane rantings about ‘terrorists’ has handed world governments the powers they always wanted. Control and subdue, their citizens that is.
Sure, nobody wants anyone to get hurt - but remember the protests from the sixties? Well, some of us do - the civil rights, womens rights and other changes that we all enjoy today were brought about because of the protests.
Find me an offensive tee-shirt and I’ll get up to Sydney myself! Here’s some great ideas (courtesy of Atheists Online Shop) -
There’s A Sucker BORN AGAIN Every minute
The Hard Work Of One Does More Than The Prayers Of Millions
RELIGION Is myth-information
BLASPHEMY Is A Victim-less Crime
You get the idea!
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