Australia's Draconian Anti-Protest Law Passes Amid Protest

Australia’s Victorian state parliament passed a draconian anti-protest bill on Tuesday, prompting protests in the Melbourne parliament chamber that were violently shut down by security.

The Summary Offenses and Sentencing Amendment Bill has been widely criticized as a crackdown on freedom of expression and public protest, as well as an attack on marginalized, poor, homeless, and undocumented people.

When opponents of the bill voiced their opposition during debate in the chamber on Tuesday, security “proceeded to drag people by their arms, legs and their necks out of the gallery for daring to express the concerns of the community,” said protester Samantha Castro in an interview with 7 News describing the scene, which was captured on the video below.

In addition, a riot police squad was called to the scene to disband the approximately 30 protesters. The demonstrators “were representative of a much larger movement, of many [thousands] of people who do not want to see democracy further stifled in this state,” wrote Nicola Paris of nonviolent direct action group CounterAct, in a statement about the action.

Now passed, the bill drastically expands police powers to force individuals or groups of people in public places to “move on” on the suspicion that they will cause violence, obstruction, or sell drugs, and it expands powers to ban, imprison, and fine people who are deemed not in compliance.