Legal Observer Report: Policing of the Land Forces Protests

Introduction

Action Ready fielded a team of nine (9) Legal Observers for the three days of protests organised in response to the Land Forces 2021 Conference, which took place at the Brisbane Convention and Entertainment Centre (BCEC) in South Brisbane. The protest took place from Tuesday the 1st to Thursday the 3rd of June.

This report is designed to reflect upon and assess the potential and actual impacts of police actions, tactics and approaches, in terms of human rights, health, and other impacts, as well as assisting all parties in their analysis and understanding of the Land Forces protest event itself. Importantly, it is based upon the first-hand observations of the team, photo/video evidence, and direct testimony either recorded by Legal Observers onsite or made available to the team since.

A set of important, clear, and achievable recommendations to QPS and the Queensland Government stemming from these observations are included at the end (see page 16). This report is a public document and is provided to the media, the Queensland Police Service Ethical Standards Command (ESC), Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC), the Queensland Human Rights Commission (QHRC), legal and human rights agencies, Members of Parliament, Ministers and other agencies upon request.

We wish to thank the many Legal Observers who volunteered their time and those who provided us with testimony and photographic evidence of their experience with police at the Land Forces protests. This report does not include every incident or report provided to us, nor does it claim to be an exhaustive account of every incident over the three days. We do hope that it provides both a comprehensive analysis and a representative account. We are also grateful for the feedback and assistance provided by Melbourne Activist Legal Support (MALS). The policing reports previously published by MALS were of great value to us in preparing this report.

Executive Summary

The police tactics, approaches and the behaviour of individual police officers during the Land Forces protests demonstrated that QPS do not have the ability to manage peaceful protests of this nature without resorting to excessive levels of coercive force that exceed their lawful powers and obligations under the Human Right Act 2019 (Qld) (‘Human Rights Act’). Moreover, the QPS response demonstrates a systemic culture of intolerance and antipathy for peaceful assembly and the members of the public engaged in peaceful assembly.

The protest activities that took place in the conference vicinity over the four days took various forms, including a smoking ceremony, marches, mock dinners, brass band concerts, public speeches, silent vigils, and a gathering or ‘picket’ at the main entrances to the conference centre. The picket at times involved protestors shouting at the conference attendees as they entered or exited the conference. Legal Observers witnessed that this would on occasion involve swearing or other language that may be considered offensive, however, it was observed to be non-violent at all times.

The Legal Observer team reported that the violent arrest of a protester not even an hour into the first day of the protests established a tone of hostility on the part of police officers toward participants. Over the next three days, the behaviour of individual officers and the tactics deployed en masse reflected this hostility, despite there being no real risk of harm posed by the protestors to any other individuals. Legal Observers witnessed, recorded and documented multiple incidents of excessive, unnecessary and potentially unlawful use of force, either as a coordinated crowd control tactic or by individual police officers. The Legal Observers comfortably assert that the only visible de-escalation of confrontations was done by participants in the peaceful assembly and not by police. A number of casual interactions between police officers and protestors demonstrated a lack of respect for members of the public and a high level of unprofessionalism. The policing had a series of obviously harmful physical, emotional and psychological effects on the individuals affected.

This report comments on events that took place on Jagera and Turrbal lands, over which sovereignty has never been ceded. We pay our respect to elders past and present and recognise that First Nations peoples have been at the forefront of taking action for police accountability for over 200 years. This always was and always will be Aboriginal land.