Tuesday, February 24, 2004 |
Riot Police and Helicopters and Socialists Oh My!
Hands up who had to walk past a bus load of standby riot police, underneath the path of News Helicopters and past a group of brown shirt , spiked hair, nose ring wearing Socialists?
I did this morning. I work in Redfern.
Today is the Funeral of Thomas Hickey who was recently impaled on a fence in Redfern. Whilst many Redfern locals travelled to Walgett for the Funeral, many more stayed to hold a rally outside the Redfern Police Station just two blocks up from where I work.
I walked down to have a look at what was going on and I noticed something strange.
Whilst there were around 200 people there with the vast majority being Aboriginal, there was one other large group of people in attendance who by the look of them were quite obviosly Soccialists. (excuse the broad sweeping generalisation of brown shirt wearing, spikey haired people with no jobs)
I began to wonder what interest did the Socialists have in this issue? Whilst the death of a young man is tragic, what impact did it have on them?
I pushed this to one side as I watched the spectacle of news crews trying to get a good camera angle, the Police nervously looking on from a distance and the signs carried by all that called for a halt to Police Brutality or simply just a picture of Thomas.
I then noticed something else strange. Apart from the fact that they all seemed to be pasted onto 1 side of a carton of Victoria Bitter, they were also all exactly the same. They all seemed to be printed or photo copied from the same soucre. Then when I got closer to one, I saw that every single placard had the web address of the Socialist Alliance at the bottom of it in big letters.
Why would the Socialist Alliance be organising a rally for the death of a teenage Aboriganal?
When I saw these placards decrying Police violence, it made me want to go back the office and make my own placard. I was going to try and find the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald that showed the women being knocked over and having her hand bag stolen outside of Redfern Railway Station. I thought better of it as I doubted I would have made it back alive.
I have been working in Redfern for almost 8 years and I am yet to witness any Police Violence. Many is the time however where I have witnessed violence committed by the Aboriganal population of Redferm both against myself and others. I would concede that I would most likley not see any violence by the Police as they would hardly be doing it in the main street.
I have mentioned a few things about Redfern before in A Tale from Redfern. It is a suburb of contradictions.
At one end of Redfern there can be a rally of 200 protestors angry at the death of a local boy but only 200 metres away, groups of Metrosexuals sip $4 coffees on footpath outside a trendy cafe.
At one end Redfern families and the remnants of families sleep on the ground as they come down from the effects of illicit substances where just 500m away houses sell for close to $2 million.
Hands up who had to walk past a bus load of standby riot police, underneath the path of News Helicopters and past a group of brown shirt , spiked hair, nose ring wearing Socialists?
I did this morning. I work in Redfern.
Today is the Funeral of Thomas Hickey who was recently impaled on a fence in Redfern. Whilst many Redfern locals travelled to Walgett for the Funeral, many more stayed to hold a rally outside the Redfern Police Station just two blocks up from where I work.
I walked down to have a look at what was going on and I noticed something strange.
Whilst there were around 200 people there with the vast majority being Aboriginal, there was one other large group of people in attendance who by the look of them were quite obviosly Soccialists. (excuse the broad sweeping generalisation of brown shirt wearing, spikey haired people with no jobs)
I began to wonder what interest did the Socialists have in this issue? Whilst the death of a young man is tragic, what impact did it have on them?
I pushed this to one side as I watched the spectacle of news crews trying to get a good camera angle, the Police nervously looking on from a distance and the signs carried by all that called for a halt to Police Brutality or simply just a picture of Thomas.
I then noticed something else strange. Apart from the fact that they all seemed to be pasted onto 1 side of a carton of Victoria Bitter, they were also all exactly the same. They all seemed to be printed or photo copied from the same soucre. Then when I got closer to one, I saw that every single placard had the web address of the Socialist Alliance at the bottom of it in big letters.
Why would the Socialist Alliance be organising a rally for the death of a teenage Aboriganal?
When I saw these placards decrying Police violence, it made me want to go back the office and make my own placard. I was going to try and find the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald that showed the women being knocked over and having her hand bag stolen outside of Redfern Railway Station. I thought better of it as I doubted I would have made it back alive.
I have been working in Redfern for almost 8 years and I am yet to witness any Police Violence. Many is the time however where I have witnessed violence committed by the Aboriganal population of Redferm both against myself and others. I would concede that I would most likley not see any violence by the Police as they would hardly be doing it in the main street.
I have mentioned a few things about Redfern before in A Tale from Redfern. It is a suburb of contradictions.
At one end of Redfern there can be a rally of 200 protestors angry at the death of a local boy but only 200 metres away, groups of Metrosexuals sip $4 coffees on footpath outside a trendy cafe.
At one end Redfern families and the remnants of families sleep on the ground as they come down from the effects of illicit substances where just 500m away houses sell for close to $2 million.
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