Important Notice: IMARC Class Action
Contact Phi Finney McDonald at: https://phifinneymcdonald.com/action/imarc-class-action/
Read More
Media statement: Grossly excessive policing of protesters likely infringed on human rights
11 September 2024 Melbourne Activist Legal Support (MALS) fielded a team of 20 independent legal observers to monitor the policing of protests against the Land Forces Exposition between 6.00am and 1.00pm, Wednesday 11 September 2024, at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) in Melbourne. Legal observers witnessed multiple incidents of excessive use of force…
Police Home Visits & Property Searches
MALS is concerned about police operations that use legal processes to target, intimidate and harass activists. This short guide provides the basics of what to do if police come onto your property?
Anti-Protest Bail Conditions: A guide for activists
It is vital that all protest groups make plans in case police decide to apply anti-protest bail conditions against your group or campaign and understand how you can challenge them.
Submission to the United Nations: stigmatising narratives and implications on the right to freedom of assembly
MALS is proud to publish our recent submission to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the freedom of peaceful assembly and of association in response to their call for input to inform a thematic report on stigmatising narratives and implications on the exercise of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. The submission…
Restrictions on the Right of Assembly
Melbourne Activist Legal Support (MALS) raises concerns regarding Victoria Police imposing harmful, unfair and arbitrary restrictions upon the right to peaceful assembly, and failing to consider and act compatibly with human rights under the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities. Summary Victoria Police have begun placing restrictions upon the use of a public address…
Policing of the pro-Palestine counter-rally at the ‘Never Again Is Now’ event at Parliament House on Sunday 19 May, 2024
Melbourne Activist Legal Support (MALS) expresses concern regarding the discriminatory policing, excessive use of police force, and obstruction of legal observers witnessed at the pro-Palestine counter-rally at the ‘Never Again Is Now’ event at Parliament House on Sunday 19 May, 2024.
Policing of 420 in the Park
Melbourne Activist Legal Support (MALS) provides the below report regarding the policing of the 420 in the Park event. Background On Saturday 20 April 2024 MALS fielded a team of four trained legal observers at the ‘420 in the Park’ event at Flagstaff Gardens, West Melbourne, Victoria. ‘420 In the Park’ is an annual event…
Response to IBAC’s review of Victoria Police use of OC spray
MALS welcomes the review into the use of OC spray by Victoria Police, which was released on 23 April 2024 by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC). The findings of the review vindicate what MALS legal observers have documented and reported on for many years.
Media Statement- Protect Protest
12 April 2024 A requirement to obtain a permit to hold a protest, rally or public assembly undermines human rights, suppresses political expression, they’re discriminatory and are fundamentally incompatible with the core principles of democracy. Protest permits are completely antithetical to the very nature and purpose of protests. Melbourne Activist Legal Support urges the Victorian…
The Case Against Protest Permits in Victoria
We outline eight key reasons why protest permits should never be introduced in Victoria.
Statement of Concern: Policing of Free Palestine March
Melbourne Activist Legal Support (MALS) expresses concern regarding the violent and unsafe policing of protesters and legal observers at the Free Palestine march in the Melbourne CBD on Sunday 4 February, 2024.
Statement of Concern: Policing of the Webb Dock Picket
Melbourne Activist Legal Support expresses concern regarding the policing of the Webb Dock Picket between Friday, 19 January 2024 and Monday, 22 January 2024.
Policing of the Webb Dock protest – Preliminary Legal Observer Statement of Concern
A team of trained, independent legal observers was present during the Victoria Police operation at Webb Dock in Port Melbourne on Monday 22 January 2024. This is a list of preliminary concerns.
What to do if you are assaulted or OC sprayed by police in Victoria
Basic legal steps to take if you are affected by OC spray or assaulted by police at a protest in Victoria.
Annual Report 2023
What a year! MALS fielded an unprecedented 30 Legal Observer Teams between July 2022 and June 2023, involving over 140 legal observer shifts. That’s almost three teams each month, monitoring police intervention at protest events.
Your rights in Designated Areas
Information on the three main powers affecting people at protests inside a ‘designated area’:
1. searches
2. directions to remove face coverings
3. directions to leave the area.
Designated Areas as Protest Control
MALS believes that the use of designated areas as a method of protest control undermines the rights to assembly, association, and political expression that are protected under sections 15 and 16 of the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities (the Charter)
Police Surveillance at Palestine Solidarity Rally, 3CR Thursday Breakfast
MALS calls for ban of dangerous police weapons
Melbourne Activist Legal Support (MALS) has provided a submission to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture recommending a ban on the police use of explosive weapons such as stinger grenades and flash-bangs, a prohibition on the use of police horses as crowd control weapons and far stricter controls on the use of OC spray and kinetic projectile weapons that were used during Melbourne’s anti-lockdown protests.
Australia’s civic freedoms remain ‘narrowed’ – CIVICUS Global Report
The latest CIVICUS Monitor global report, which analyses the extent to which civil society rights are respected, upheld, and protected, has found civic space in Australia remains ‘narrowed’.
Human Rights Watch: Australia’s credibility abroad undermined by crackdown on protest rights
In a report published on 12 January, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has warned that the Australian government’s treatment of protesters is undermining its credibility when promoting human rights abroad.
Annual Report 2022
Over 2021 to 2022, MALS has continued to provide unique, specialised and targeted legal and human rights information, resources, training and other forms of direct support to a wide range of diverse, progressive social movements in Victoria.
End Police intimidation of activists
There is an alarming pre-emptive and intimidatory policing operation currently underway across four Australian states and territories.
OC Spray Class Action provides hope for accountability
Melbourne Activist Legal Support (MALS) welcomes the class action against Victoria Police’s use of capsicum spray and excessive force against protesters at the International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC) in Melbourne in October 2019.
Asserting the rights of legal observers
The arrest of a legal observer in Sydney in June 2022 has highlighted the need to continually assert the rights of independent legal observers to monitor police without interference or obstruction.
‘Draconian and undemocratic’: why criminalising climate protesters in Australia doesn’t actually work
The criminalisation of environmental protest in Australia isn’t new.
Criminalising protest is bad for democracy
How many times do we have to say this? Criminalising protest is bad for democracy, undermines human rights & ultimately makes things worse.
As another step in an alarming national trend of undemocratic infringements on protest rights, the Victorian Government has introduced the Sustainable Forests Timber Amendment (Timber Harvesting Safety Zones) Bill 2022 into parliament.
Statement of Concern: Unnecessary use of handcuffs
Melbourne Activist Legal Support is concerned about the increasing normalisation of the use of handcuffs on protesters and other people subject to arrest.
MALS is seeking a Treasurer/Accountant
Melbourne Activist Legal Support (MALS) is seeking a skilled and committed Treasurer with an accountancy background to join our Organising Group and help build our impact, increase our capacity and strong financial growth.
Two years of activist legal solidarity
The legal support offered by Blockade IMARC was remarkable in its ongoing commitment to the entirety of the process. This is rare in activist groups who all too often ‘abandon’ activists to deal with the court system by themselves long after the action has served its purpose.
Policing of the anti-lockdown protests
Our analysis and concerns arising from the policing of protest events in Melbourne between Saturday 18 and Sunday 26 September 2021
Discussion: Identify and Disrupt Act
MALS has a discussion with lawyer and human rights advocate Angus Murray, Lucie Krahulcova from Digital Rights Watch, and Sam de Silva from the Oxen Privacy Tech Foundation to explore how the Identify and Disrupt Act works, how it may interface with activists and activist groups, as well as some potential ways to think about assessing the increased digital security risks for activist work.
Identify and Disrupt Act
Update: February 3rd, 2022 The Department of Home Affairs has stated that as of December 2021, they are now using the new powers introduced by the Identify and Disrupt Act. They have not disclosed which type, nor the quantity of warrants exercised; nor whether the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, or other…
Statement of Concern: Police use of projectile weapons
Melbourne Activist Legal Support (MALS) expresses concern regarding use of projectile weapons at Melbourne protest on 21 August 2021. Pepper ball rounds were confirmed to have been used by Victoria Police during the “anti-lock down protest” at various locations in Melbourne’s central business district on the afternoon of Saturday, 21 August, 2021. Photo and video…
Impact of New Regulations on Charities
The activities of the approximately 56,000 registered charities in Australia will be significantly impacted by the new regulations recently announced by the Federal Coalition government. These regulations have widened the scope for the charity regulator, Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC), to investigate and deregister a charity. Many organisations, such as Greenpeace and most Aboriginal Land Councils, are…
A brief & incomplete history of Legal Observing
Independent citizen monitoring of police has a long history. For several decades now, community activists, legal workers and movement lawyers have actively opposed police brutality using various means to directly observe, record, and monitor police behaviour. Today’s legal observer projects have learnt from and built upon these important grassroots initiatives. We all owe a great debt to these activists and organisors who have gone before us.
Activism, Surveillance, and Digital Security Awareness
Activism, Surveillance, and Digital Security Awareness is a panel discussion that Melbourne Activist Legal Support (MALS) ran as part of Victorian Law Week 2021. It’s a discussion about the surveillance technologies currently being used, who is using them, what some of the laws are, and why we should care. We hear from four great voices…
Lessons from the Occupy Movement: A web forum
3.00pm Sunday, February 21, 2021 Inspired by the global call for action by the Indignados movement in Spain, the protests and revolutions across the Arab World and the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York City, Occupy Melbourne and Occupy Sydney was launched by many hundreds of activists in October 2011. Occupy sought to transform…
Statement of Concern: Police acting outside their powers at the Australian Open
In the past week, police have been threatening a small group of refugee protesters, including members of Grandmothers for Refugees, with arrest and issuing them with ‘Directions to Leave’. We believe that these actions by police fall outside the scope of the powers provided by the Major Events Act 2009 (Vic) and therefore unreasonably and disproportionately restrict the right to peaceful assembly and political expression enshrined in Victoria’s Charter.
Call on the City of Melbourne to stop silencing protests
You can send a letter to the Lord Mayor of Melbourne with a simple request that the Council put in place clear protocols that prevent its local laws being used to silence protest. Help us call upon the City of Melbourne to stand up for human rights and refuse police requests to silence protests.
Statement of Concern: The misuse of Council Local Laws to restrict protest
For some time now Victoria Police have been using a City of Melbourne Council by-law – Local Activities Act 2019 – as a way of controlling and restricting protest events. Specifically, police have been calling City of Melbourne compliance officers to enforce Sections 5.7 and 12.8 of this Local Law to restrict any use of amplified sound at protest events. This is our Statement of Concern.
What is ‘kettling’ & why is it such a problem?
Kettling is a controversial containment technique used by police during protests that has the purported purpose of de-escalating tensions, but has come under heavy criticism for having the opposite effect. It involves the police confining protesters (and sometimes bystanders) to a specific area, with those caught inside only being able to leave at the decision…
Victoria Police Weapon ID guide
This guide is to help journalists, legal and human rights observers identify weapons that are currently available to Victoria Police. This is not an exhaustive list. It includes weapons used in crowd-control / public-order management contexts. The guide is available to download as a foldable A4 leaflet here (PDF). VKS Pepper ball firearm A 175…
URGENT RELEASE: Urgent scrutiny of police powers and access for legal observers at Djab Wurrung sacred trees protest
For urgent release 27 October 2020 Human rights and legal organisations have condemned a police operation targeting Djab Wurrung protestors who are protecting sacred Djab Wurrung trees in Victoria and are calling for urgent scrutiny of police powers and access for legal observers to monitor police actions during the protest. Legal services have received reports…
Automated Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) Surveillance During COVID-19
During COVID, police throughout Australia have rapidly and aggressively expanded their already-considerable surveillance capabilities, spurred on by State and Federal governments pushing technological solutions for social control during the pandemic. Amid this, we’ve witnessed the expansion of Automated Number Plate Recognition technology to profile and record the movements of citizens in vehicles, particularly at State borders which have closed during the pandemic.
Protest, Repression, and the Law: Defending Protest
Provided here is the second recording of a series of free virtual public panels and training sessions around the theme Protest, Repression, and the Law that Melbourne Activist Legal Support (MALS) is running as part of Victorian Law Week 2020. The recording is a virtual discussion on emergency and innovative legal defences for protest. In…
Police break down door of conspiracist accused of inciting anti-lockdown protest, The Age, Ashleigh McMillan
Statement of Concern: Policing of opposing anti-trans & trans rights rallies
Melbourne Activist Legal Support (MALS) expresses concern regarding the failure of police to act compatibly with human rights and give proper consideration to human rights in tactical decisions whilst policing opposing rallies at Parliament House on Saturday, 18 March 2023.