Melbourne Activist Legal Support is conducting a statewide legal needs assessment to identify and analyse the scope and nature of legal issues faced by people involved in civil, political, environmental, and human rights movements in Victoria.
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.
