Melbourne Activist Legal Support (MALS) expresses concern about the actions of Victoria Police on Sunday 31 August 2025 in Melbourne and failure to mitigate risks posed by neo-Nazis. Summary MALS observed that police operational tactics deployed on the day, which focused solely upon separating opposing groups, resulted in a failure to adequately manage the intimidating,…
In a submission to Australia’s upcoming Universal Periodic Review (UPR), MALS has assessed the Australian Government’s performance regarding its responsibility to uphold and protect our civil and political rights and the right to protest. A mechanism of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), the UPR is a comprehensive peer review of UN member states’…
This report details areas of concern from observations made by Melbourne Activist Legal Support across the four days of protests at the Disrupt Land Forces expo, including police use of force and weaponry, special powers, arrests, treatment of legal observers, media narratives and strategic misinformation.
11 September 2024 Melbourne Activist Legal Support (MALS) fielded a team of 20 independent legal observers to monitor the policing of the Disrupt Land Forces protest 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 by…
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.
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…
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.
