This petition is initiated by community members who support the Free Palestine rallies.

On Sunday 9 June 2024 Victoria Police severely compromised the safety of a large number of people who attended the 35th protest organised by the Free Palestine movement. Police officers, including those from the specialist riot unit, used force and deployed the weapon of pepper-spray against a large, non-violent crowd including families, children, elderly people, and a pregnant woman.

Across the past eight months the Free Palestine rally organisers have created a safe space for thousands of people and families from different communities, backgrounds, and ages to exercise their right to protest. These protests have included tens of thousands of people who are calling for an end to the genocide of Palestinian people and demanding an end to the Victorian and Australian governments’ complicity that has led to the murder of over 36,000 Palestinian people since October 7. The protests always include a large number of children and young people.

Victoria Police violated the community’s safety when more than 60 protesters sustained contamination injuries as a result of being pepper-sprayed by Victoria Police, including police officers from the specialist riot unit. Amongst the injured included over five children, a pregnant woman, and elderly people. 

“Among those affected were several children, all under 12 years old, including an eight-year-old child who suffered from severe exposure to the OC spray on their face and in their eyes. Several people experienced asthma attacks triggered by OC spray, others sustained cuts and abrasions to their hands that required first-aid assistance and one individual required an ambulance”, reported community defence and harm reduction organisation, Naarm Frontline Medics.

Victoria Police have attempted to justify this attack on the community to corporate media by representing protesters as violent despite a large number of reports from parents, direct victims, and witnesses evidencing Victoria Police using pepper-spray against a large, non-violent crowd that included minors.

Free Palestine demonstrations have been subjected to heavy aggression by Victoria Police since the beginning of October that has escalated over the last two weeks. During such time there has been a heavy police presence at protests, including the use of repressive intimidation tactics such as video surveillance undertaken by the Victoria Police Evidence Gathering Team and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (drones), censorship, large numbers of police officers swarming individual protestors, the excessive deployment of the specialist riot police unit, and selective use of Body Worn Cameras. Victoria Police also attempted to silence the mass movement by unlawfully giving a move on order as well as a fine to the group who organise the sound system at weekly protests. Local Free Palestine protesters were also pepper-sprayed in Hobsons Bay two weeks ago when demonstrating against Labor MP Tim Watts’ office. Like the protest on June 9, young people were also amongst the victims of this police attack. Victoria Police have also unprecedently used rubber bullets against protesters at Webb Dock.  

The deployment of heavy, militarised policing against regular, working-class people, families, children, and elderly people is evidence of the state’s ongoing attempts to disintegrate the movement and silence and repress community members who hold the government accountable through exercising their right to protest. 

Protests organised by the Free Palestine movement in Victoria must be defended from police violence that severely compromise the safety of the community. The Free Palestine movement must not be used as a scapegoat to introduce anti-protest laws in Victoria that would require protesters to obtain a permit from Victoria Police to protest. Members of the community have the right to attend protests that are free from violence incited by Victoria Police and the community’s democratic rights must be protected.

We condemn Victoria Police and the government for abusing the power of the state in an attempt to harm a strong movement that is committed to calling for human rights to be upheld. We refuse to allow Victoria Police’s intimidation and repression tactics to diminish the movement that continues to grow in strength and numbers. We will continue to stand united to call for an end to the genocide of Palestinian people and demand an end to the Victorian and Australian governments’ complicity.

We call on members of the community to:

• deplore Victoria Police violence against protestors including families, children, and elderly people;
• demand Victoria Police immediately withdraw their use of repressive, violent, and harmful intimidation tactics used against protestors; and
• condemn the government’s negative, prejudiced positioning of the Free Palestine movement that has permitted Victoria Police’s violent attack on protestors.