News & Views

Rights

Statement of Concern: Policing of Free Palestine March, 4 February 2024

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.

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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.

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OC Spray Legal Information

Basic legal steps to take if you are affected by OC spray or assaulted by police at a protest in Victoria.

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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)

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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‘Draconian and undemocratic’: why criminalising climate protesters in Australia doesn’t actually work

The criminalisation of environmental protest in Australia isn’t new.

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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.  

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Where does MALS sit with all these ‘anti-lockdown’ protests?

MALS understands that many people feel that the Chief Health Officer (CHO) directives such as mask-wearing, movement restrictions, business closures, and the current Stage 4 evening curfew represent unfair and unjustified infringements of their rights. For many people, these restrictions may be the first time they have experienced significant limitations upon their freedoms. For others, these restrictions may compound feelings of already being targeted by police. We understand that many people in Victoria are fearful and have concerns that these limitations on our basic freedoms might represent a growing authoritarianism. The use of the charge of ‘incitement’ against people organising or proposing any protest events as well as house raids and confiscations needs to be broadly condemned no matter where we stand.

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Unlawful Assembly

Unlawful assembly is one of a number of offences related to protesting and activism that protesters can be charged with. It can be difficult to clearly define what offences may apply to protesters, with protesters often charged with multiple offences at once. There also seems to be significant overlap between what makes up the offences, with the charges tending to rely heavily on police discretion. The broadness and lack of clarity surrounding the offence allows it to be utilised by police to limit political protest.

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Charge of Incitement

Earlier this year, several people were fined for breaching COVID-19 restrictions whilst protesting. They were protesting against the serious mistreatment of refugees and asylum seekers in Mantra hotels in Victoria and the heightened risk surrounding COVID-19 for those detained. Whilst many protesters were fined for disobeying COVID-19 restrictions, Mantra protest organiser Chris Breen was arrested in his home under the charge of incitement before the protest had even begun. The police also seized his computers and phones during the raid. Given the evolving climate surrounding protesting under COVID-19 restrictions, it is important to have an understanding of the charge of incitement and how it is used in Victoria…

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Community Service Announcement: ‘Protests of Groups of 10’ permitted under latest COVID Directions in Victoria

Protests of groups of ten people are ‘permissible’ under the latest Victorian Stay at Home Directions (No.6). Under the new directions from the Chief Health Officer (CHO) (12 May 2020), Victorians are permitted to leave the house to visit friends or family, to meet in groups of ten outside, and to have up to five…

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Statement of Concern: Good Friday Protest Suppressed by Police under COVID Restrictions

Melbourne Activist Legal Support (MALS) is extremely concerned about the way in which the police have used their special policing powers in relation to COVID-19 to suppress peaceful protest. The effect has been to prevent political communication. The situation highlights the lack of exception for peaceful protest under Victorian emergency restrictions. Police arrested one of the…

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Calling out Australia at the United Nations

MALS Endorses Joint NGO Submission to Australia’s 3rd Universal Periodic Review Concerned with narrowing space for civil engagement and protest across Australia, Melbourne Activist Legal Support (MALS) endorses in whole the joint non governmental organisation (NGO) submission to Australia’s 3rd Universal Periodic Review that was released on Thursday 9th April. The submission was endorsed by…

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Statement of Concern: Unique protest squashed by police due to COVID restrictions

Melbourne Activist Legal Support (MALS) expresses concern regarding the dampening of political speech and peaceful association in police threats to fine protesters A unique cavalcade protest that had planned to abide by social distancing restrictions has been banned by local police. Victoria Police threatened the organisers with a hefty fines if the cavalcade went ahead.*…

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Are governments violating human rights and civil liberties in coronavirus response?

Historically crises have been exploited to introduce dangerous policies—right now may be one of these moments. By Sahar Vardi, Mar 26, 2020 With the rise of far right, nationalist governments over the past few years, the world has seen more measures to systematically target voices of dissent and political opposition—resulting in the rapid shrinking of…

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What is ‘Strategic Incapacitation’ and why is it important for activists to understand it?

This post is an excerpt from our recent Legal Observer Report: The Policing of the IMARC Protests. Melbourne Activist Legal Support has tracked the rise in coercive and excessive crowd control tactics by Victoria Police over several years at protest events throughout Victoria. Victoria Police’s approach to protests has been characterised by a lack of…

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Legal Observer Report: Policing of the IMARC Protests

Download a PDF copy of this 45 page report here. Media: Legal observers find police ‘set tone of violence’ at anti-mining protests. Benjamin Miller, The Age, December 7, 2019. Executive Summary The police tactics, approaches and the behaviour of individual police members during the IMARC protest events from Tuesday 29th to Thursday 31st October demonstrated…

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Preliminary Statement of Concern: Policing of the IMARC Protests

Melbourne Activist Legal Support (MALS) fielded a team of Legal Observers at this morning’s protest events at the International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC) that took place at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre in Melbourne, Victoria. The protest involved activists chanting, singing, holding banners, speaking and linking arms at the entrance of the Conference…

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Open Letter to Victoria Police

In reply and in light of protest events planned in Melbourne for the month of October we take this opportunity to remind Victoria Police senior command and all operational commanders assigned to public order policing duties over the coming weeks, that ‘disruption to others’ does not justify limiting the Right to Peaceful Assembly.

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Statement of Concern: The Policing of ‘Extinction Rebellion’

Princess Bridge Blockade and dance protest event Saturday 14th September 2019, Melbourne, Australia Please Note: A response by Victoria Police to the Statement of Concern is included below. On Saturday 14th September 2019 Melbourne Activist Legal Support (MALS) fielded a team of eight (8) trained Legal Observers at the ‘Princes Bridge Block & Dance’ protest…

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Help us protect your rights to protest: Donate to MALS now!

Melbourne Activist Legal Support has launched our first-ever crowdfunding campaign, and here’s why. When people protest in Melbourne, MALS is often there behind the scenes. Our Legal Observer Teams in pink vests and cameras are now a pretty familiar sight on the streets of Melbourne. MALS is an all-volunteer group of lawyers, law-students, and human…

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What is this thing called Activist Legal Support?

Activist Legal Support is not just Legal Observing Many people these days equate Legal Observing with “legal support” partly due to the relatively high visibility and profile of Legal Observing, particularly in Victoria – Legal Observers stand out whilst back-end legal support training / arrest support / court support is far less visible to anyone…

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Statement of Concern: Policing of Invasion Day, 2019

On Saturday 26 January 2019 Melbourne Activist Legal Support (MALS) fielded a team of ten (10) trained Legal Observers at the Invasion Day march that took place in Melbourne’s Central Business District.  The march, which was organised by the group Warriors of Aboriginal Resistance, began with speakers at Victoria’s Parliament House on Spring Street, proceeded…

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Event Report: 66 Records Label Launch, Collingwood

On Saturday 1st of September, to the morning of Sunday the 2nd, September, 2018 Melbourne Activist Legal Support (MALS) fielded a team of nine trained Legal Observers at the 66 Records Label launch that took place at the Gasometer Hotel near the intersection of Alexander Parade with Smith Street, in Collingwood, Victoria. Legal Observers were…

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#NotWithYou: Why More Weapons for Victoria Police is a Very Bad Idea

Victoria Police have revealed it’s armoury of new repressive weaponry.

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Our Activist Lawyers Network is launched!

A report on the launch of the Activist Lawyers Network Melbourne Activist Legal Support (MALS) launched our lawyers network with Amnesty International-Victoria on the 30th May 2017. We heard from several lawyers with combined decades of experience in supporting activists and progressive causes – Matt Wilson (MALS) Rob Stary from Stary Norton Helphan, Meghan Fitzgerald from Fitzroy…

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Roles of the Activist Lawyers Network

Solicitors can play a vital role in protecting the civil, political and human rights of activists seeking positive change. They can help demystify the law and legal processes, provide concrete information and help activists make informed choices about protest action. Importantly, lawyers can reassure people engaged in civil disobedience by their presence, support and advocacy…

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Submission to Inquiry into Drug Law Reform

MALS makes a further submission that “meaningful harm reduction” extends to include banning the use of drug detection dogs and strip searches at music and arts festivals.

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Statement of Concern: Treatment of Legal Observer, 11th February 2017

‘Block the Bill’ Rally, 11th February 2017, Melbourne, Australia On Saturday the 11th of February 2017 Melbourne Activist Legal Support (MALS) fielded a team of three (3) trained Legal Observers at the ‘Block the Bill’ rally that took place on Swanston Street, near the intersection with Latrobe Street, at the State Library Victoria in Melbourne’s…

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Lawful or Unlawful?

“I support your right to protest, as long as you don’t break the law…” How many times have you heard this statement from police, from politicians, from passers by, or even friends and family? A Victorian Premier, when questioned about protesters picketing a company building said that while he respected the right of people to…

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